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1444 

v*» ,x  - 

WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 


ROBERT  LOUIS  STEVENSON 

From  a  portrait  presented  by 
the  novelist  to  the  author 


WITH   STEVENSON 
IN  SAMOA 


BY 
H,  J.  MOORS 


Illustrated  from  photographs,  letters,  etc. 


• 


• 


BOSTON 

SMALL,  MAYNARD  &  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  iqio 

By  Small,  Maynard  &  Company 

(incorporated) 


Entered  at  Stationers'1  Hall 


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PRINTED   BY   THE   UNIVEESITY    PRESS,   CAMBRIDGE,   U.S.A. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  "  Invalid  and  Good  Fellow  "    .     .     .     .       i 

II     "In   the  South   Seas" 13 

III  His  First  Work  in  Samoa 20 

IV  The    Two    Stevensons 27 

V     Stevenson  at  Home 39 

VI  Some    of    His    Friends    in    the    South 

Seas 64 

VII    The  Talker 75 

VIII     Books  and  Collaboration 87 

IX       TUSITALA  AND  THE   NATIVES 102 

X     Peace    or    War? 116 

XI     "Libeling"  a   Missionary 128 

XII     Briefing   the   Novelist 143 

XIII  When    Malietoa    was    King    .     .  .   153 

XIV  Samoa's   "Grand  Old  Man"    .     .     .     .176 
XV     The  Road  of  Gratitude 189 

XVI     A  Plan  That  Failed 196 

XVII     Death    and    Burial 204 

XVIII     An    Appeal 217 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Robert    Louis    Stevenson  —  From    a    portrait    pre- 
sented by  the  novelist  to  the  author  .     .    Frontispiece 

PAGE 

The  wrecks  of  the  Trenton,  Vandalia  and  Olga   .  6 

A  waterfall  at  Vailima 12 

A  Samoan  village 14 

Samoan  children  playing  along  a  river-bank     .     .  18 

Tivoli  Road,  on  the  way  to  Vailima 20 

Lloyd   Osbourne   and   Stevenson   with   "Jack,"   the 

pony 22 

Proof  sheets  of  A  Footnote  to  History  ....  26 

A  Samoan  maiden  in  full  dress 32 

Stevenson's  "  Cowboy " 36 

The  original  Vailima  cottage;  front   view      ...  40 

The  original  Vailima  cottage;  side   view        ...  44 

A  family  group  on  the  verandah 50 

Facsimile  of  a  note  from  "  R.  L.  S."  to  the  author  54 

A  group  on  the  steps  of  Vailima 56 

Ben  Hird 60 

Facsimile  of  the  first  number  of  the  Samoan  Re- 
porter       64 

The  late  Malieatoa  Laupepa 70 

The  Bottle  Imp  in  Samoan 98 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

A  Samoan  fishing  canoe 102 

Uo,  a  native  chief,  one  of  Stevenson's  friends   .     .   104 

Stevenson  and  Tuimalealiifagu 106 

Ale,  one  of  Stevenson's  friends 108 

Vao,  the  daughter  of  Seumanutafa no 

Turtles  killed  for  Vao's  wedding  feast     .      .      .     .112 

Cacao  tree 114 

Tamasese  the  Elder 122 

Mulinnuu  Point 126 

United  States  Consulate I32 

Facsimile  of  a  note   from   Stevenson  to  Mr.   Car- 

ruthers 144 

Faamu,  daughter  of  Malieatoa 154 

Samoan  girls  making  kava 170 

Mataafa 180 

Facsimile  of  a  letter  from  Mataafa 182 

Mataafa  at  home 186 

"The  Road  of  Gratitude"  to-day 192 

Seumanutafa IQ4 

Vailima  in  1893 I9^ 

Vailima  after  the  verandah  had  been  enclosed  .      .  206 
Apia  with  Mt.  Vaea  in  the  background  .      .      .      .210 
The  tomb  of  Stevenson  with  the  English  inscrip- 
tion    2I2 

The  native  inscription  on  Stevenson's  tomb  .      .     .214 
Vailima  as  it  appears  to-day 224 


PREFACE 

To  those  who  have  read  the  Vailima  Let- 
ters no  introduction  is  needed;  but  for  the 
information  of  such  as  are  not  familiar  with 
those  very  interesting  epistles  to  his  friend 
Sidney  Colvin,  written  by  Robert  Louis  Ste- 
venson during  his  residence  in  Samoa,  I  may 
state  that  from  the  time  the  novelist  first  set 
foot  in  Apia,  to  the  end,  I  enjoyed  the  priv- 
ilege of  his  friendship.  When  he  arrived 
he  brought  a  letter  of  introduction  to  me,  and 
for  some  time  the  family  made  my  house 
their  home.  From  the  first  of  the  Letters, 
which  were  written  after  Stevenson  had  finally 
settled  in  his  "  Vailima  "  home  at  the  back 
of  Apia,  I  take  this  extract:  "  Put  in  Sunday 
afternoon  with  our  counsel,  '  a  nice  young 
man,'  dined  with  my  friend  H.  J.  Moors  in 
the  evening,  went  to  church  —  no  less  —  at 

v 


vi  PREFACE 

the  white  and  half-white  church  —  I  had 
never  been  before  and  was  much  interested; 
the  woman  I  sat  next  looked  a  full-blood  na- 
tive, and  it  was  in  the  prettiest  and  readiest 
English  that  she  sang  the  hymns;  back  to 
Moors',  where  we  yarned  of  the  islands,  be- 
ing both  wide  wanderers,  till  bed  time."  And 
throughout  the  Vailima  Letters  there  is  con- 
stant, reference  to  his  wide-wandering  friend. 
We  had  many  long  talks,  many  confidences, 
many  escapades.  History  was  moving;  they 
were  troublous  times  for  Samoa. 

As  I  write  this  preface,  my  friend  stands 
clear-cut  before  me;  I  see  his  face  again,  I 
hear  his  voice.  Stevenson's  sojourn  in  Sa- 
moa with  the  happy  companionship  it  brought 
me,  is  one  of  the  pleasantest  memories  of  my 
life.  "  I  never  saw  so  good  a  place  as  this 
Apia,"  said  a  young  Irishman  he  has  told  us 
of;  "you  can  be  in  a  new  conspiracy  every 
day."  Certainly,  strange  things  happened 
in  those  days.  I  remember  well  the  little 
adventures  we  had;  but  most  of  all  do  I  like 


PREFACE  vii 

to  recall  the  quiet  evenings  we  spent  together, 
exchanging  stories  and  talking  about  books 
and  their  writers.  All  reserve  was  thrown 
aside;  we  talked  to  each  other  as  man  to  man, 
and  friend  to  friend.  His  various  literary- 
projects  were  all  made  known  to  me,  and  we 
spent  many  hours  in  discussing  them.  Most 
of  what  he  wrote  in  Samoa  I  had  the  priv- 
ilege of  reading  in  the  manuscript;  indeed,  I 
supplied  him  with  some  of  the  material  for 
his  stories.  As  to  A  Footnote  to  History, 
a  stirring  account  of  the  Samoan  troubles 
extending  over  a  period  of  eight  years,  the 
greater  part  of  it  was  written  in  my  house. 
Ah,  if  he  had  only  lived  to  continue  the  his- 
tory !  For,  verily,  stranger  and  more  mon- 
strous things  were  done  after  his  death  than 
ever  were  dreamed  of  before  it.  From  petty 
bickerings  among  the  Samoans,  situations 
arose  which  brought  about  serious  conflicts; 
and  more  reputations  were  wrecked,  more 
lives  lost,  and  much  more  property  destroyed 
in  the  short  space  of  four  months,  than  dur- 


viii  PREFACE 

ing  the  whole  period  of  Stevenson's  residence. 
If  only  his  graphic  pen  could  have  written  the 
final  footnote!  If  he  could  have  laid  the 
blame  of  the  shameful  closing  scenes  upon 
those  who  guiltily  and  carelessly  brought  them 
about ! 

I  have  endeavored  in  the  following  pages 
to  give  a  true  and  faithful  account  of  Robert 
Louis  Stevenson  as  he  appeared  to  us  com- 
mon folk  in  the  islands.  As  a  prophet  is 
without  honor  in  his  own  country,  so  Ste- 
venson cut  no  great  figure  in  the  minds  of  most 
white  men  in  Samoa,  his  island  home  —  he 
was  just  one  of  us.  It  is  when  we  lose  some 
precious  possession  that  we  prize  it  most. 
Let  me,  however,  do  justice  to  the  Samoan 
natives.  To  them  he  was  a  prophet;  by  them 
he  was  honored  as  a  man  set  apart  from  his 
fellows.  They  made  the  "  Road  of  Grati- 
tude "  (or  the  "  Road  of  the  Loving 
Hearts  ")  leading  up  to  his  house,  in  memory 
of  a  great  kindness;  and  when  he  died  they 
cut  the  track  up  the  steep  slope  of  Vaea  that 


PREFACE  ix 

their  Tusitala  might  be  buried  on  the  moun- 
tain-top "  where  he  longed  to  be." 

The  number  of  books  that  have  already 
been  written  about  this  man  and  his  writings 
is  remarkable;  to  the  making  of  them  there 
is  no  end.  And  in  adding  another  to  the  list 
I  can  only  hope  that  indulgent  readers  will 
find  in  it  something  that  is  new  and,  possibly, 
in  so  far  as  it  may  assist  towards  a  better  un- 
derstanding of  the  man,  something  that  is 
valuable.  First  and  foremost,  the  work  has 
been  undertaken  in  response  to  repeated  re- 
quests by  many  of  Mr.  Stevenson's  friends. 
His  life  in  Samoa  was  full  of  interest,  full  of 
incident;  history  was  blended  with  romance. 
"  Since  Byron  was  in  Greece,"  his  friend  Mr. 
Gosse  wrote  to  him,  "  nothing  has  appealed 
to  the  ordinary  literary  man  so  much  as  that 
you  should  be  living  in  the  South  Seas."  It 
has  been  my  endeavor  to  tell  something  of 
that  "  later  Stevenson  "  whom  I  have  read 
of  in  books.  If  I  cannot  explain  him  —  for 
in  many  things  he  was  a  man  of  mystery  —  I 


x  PREFACE 

may,  perhaps,  be  able  to  throw  some  further 
light  on  his  picture.  But  I  shall  throw  no 
limelight;  my  object  is  simply  to  record  facts 
and  impressions,  telling  my  story  plainly  and 
truthfully.  Whether  or  not  there  came  over 
Stevenson  in  his  latest  years  that  wonderful 
change  attributed  to  him  by  some  writers, 
the  reader  may  judge  for  himself. 

I  have  to  thank  the  late  Mr.  R.  Hether- 
ington  Carruthers,  solicitor,  of  Apia,  and  Mr. 
W.  Farmer  Whyte,  of  the  New  Zealand 
Herald,  Auckland,  for  much  valuable  as- 
sistance. 

H.  J.  M. 

Apia,  Samoa. 


WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 


WITH   STEVENSON    IN   SAMOA 

CiA.ir  TEl\    i 
INVALID    AND   C^J    FELLOW 

Robert  Louis  Stevenson  —  well  do  I  re- 
member my  first  meeting  with  him  in  Samoa. 
I  had  previously  met  Joe  Strong,  a  relative 
of  his  by  marriage,  and  Strong  had  written 
to  me  from  Hawaii,  informing  me  that 
Stevenson  was  touring  the  islands,  and  would 
in  due  course  arrive  at  Apia.  "  He  has 
gained  rather  a  famous  name  as  a  novelist," 
wrote  Strong,  "  especially  as  the  author  of 
Dr.  Jekyll  and  Mr.  Hyde  which  you  must 
have  read;  but  beyond  all  that,  he  is  a  charm- 
ing fellow,  and  you  will  like  him."  Steven- 
son, he  added,  was  just  then  tripping  it  round 
the  Gilberts  and  other  islands  to  the  north- 


2     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

ward,  and  later  on  he  would  turn  up  at 
Samoa.  Would  I  be  so  good  as  to  do  what 
I  could  to  make  his  stay  a  pleasant  one,  "  as 
he  is  an  invalid  and  good  fellow  "  ? 

For  six  or  seven  months  after  receiving 
this  letter  I  had  been  looking  out  for  him;  and 
early  in  December,  1889,  the  schooner  Equa- 
tor with  Stevenson  on  board,  entered  Apia 
harbor.  I  went  aboard.  A  young-looking 
man  came  forward  to  meet  me.  He  ap- 
peared to  be  about  thirty  years  of  age,  al- 
though really  nine  years  older,  of  fair  and 
somewhat  sallow  complexion,  and  about  five 
feet  ten  inches  in  height.  He  wore  a  slight, 
scraggy  moustache,  and  his  hair  hung  down 
about  his  neck  after  the  fashion  of  artists. 
This  was  Stevenson  —  R.  L.  S.,  "  the  best  be- 
loved initials  in  recent  literature  " —  and  I 
knew  it  even  before  he  spoke.  He  was  not  a 
handsome  man,  and  yet  there  was  something 
irresistibly  attractive  about  him.  The  genius 
that  was  in  him  seemed  to  shine  out  of  his 
face.     I  was  struck  at  once  by  his  keen,  in- 


INVALID  AND  GOOD  FELLOW     3 

quiring  eyes.  Brown  in  color,  they  were 
strangely  bright,  and  seemed  to  penetrate  you 
like  the  eyes  of  a  mesmerist.  His  feet  were 
bare,  and  I  remember  that  he  was  dressed  in 
a  thin  calico  shirt  and  a  light  pair  of  flannel 
trousers,  with  a  little  white  yachting  cap  — 
one  of  those  cheese-cutter  things  —  on  his 
head. 

We  introduced  ourselves,  and  became 
friendly  at  once.  On  board  the  little 
schooner  were  his  wife  and  her  son  by  a 
former  marriage  —  Lloyd  Osbourne  —  also, 
a  very  comical  Chinaman  whom  they  had 
picked  up  somewhere  during  their  travels. 

The  Equator,  as  well  as  I  can  recollect, 
was  a  vessel  of  about  fifty  tons,  commanded 
by  Captain  Dennis  Reid. 

At  that  time  there  was  but  one  hotel  in 
Apia,  and  as  it  badly  needed  to  be  "  under 
new  management  "  I  invited  the  party,  John 
Chinaman  included,  to  stay  at  my  house. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  acquaint- 
ance.    Stevenson  was  charmed  with  Samoa, 


4     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

and  he  bubbled  over  with  delight  as  one  en- 
chanted. The  prospect  that  opened  out  be- 
fore him  seemed  to  get  into  his  very  veins. 
"  It's  grand !  "  he  exclaimed.  And  the  gran- 
deur remained.  Of  all  the  islands  he  visited 
he  learned  to  love  Samoa  best;  and  this,  I 
think,  applies  equally  well  to  the  rest  of  the 
family.  In  time  to  come,  even  as  he  loved 
Samoa,  Stevenson  drew  her  people  lovingly 
around  him ;  and  Tusitala  1  is  a  name  es- 
teemed and  revered  to-day  by  all  Samoans 
who  knew  him. 

I  needed  not  to  be  told  that  he  was  in  in- 
different health,  for  it  was  stamped  on  his 
face.  He  appeared  to  be  intensely  nervous, 
highly  strung,  easily  excited.  When  I  first 
brought  him  ashore  he  was  looking  some- 
what weak,  but  hardly  had  he  got  into  the 
street  (for  Apia  is  practically  a  town  with 
but  one  street)  when  he  began  to  walk  up 
and  down  it  in  a  most  lively,  not  to  say 
eccentric,  manner.     He  could  not  stand  still. 

1  Writer   of  Tales. 


INVALID  AND  GOOD  FELLOW     5 

When  I  took  him  into  my  house,  he  walked 
about  the  room,  plying  me  with  questions, 
one  after  another,  darting  up  and  down,  talk- 
ing on  all  sorts  of  subjects,  with  no  continuity 
whatever  in  his  conversation.  His  wife  was 
just  as  fidgetty  as  himself;  Lloyd  Osbourne 
not  much  better.  The  long  lonesome  trip 
on  the  schooner  had  quite  unnerved  them, 
and  they  we're  delighted  to  be  on  shore 
again. 

Stevenson  was  very  much  addicted  to  the 
"  bare  feet "  habit.  He  had  worn  no  shoes 
on  the  schooner,  and  it  seemed  to  go  very 
much  against  his  will  to  put  any  on  after  his 
arrival  at  Apia.  But  before  long  I  became 
aware  of  other  eccentricities,  and  ceased  to 
be  surprised  at  anything  he  did. 

After  staying  with  me  for  some  time,  as 
my  guests,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stevenson  decided 
to  look  for  a  little  cottage  close  at  hand, 
though  at  the  same  time  they  pointed  out  that 
they  had  no  definite  plans  for  the  future.  I 
assured  them  that  they  were  welcome  to  stay 


1 


6     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

at  my  house  as  long  as  they  liked,  and  I  be- 
lieve they  would  have  stayed  longer  had  it 
not  been  for  the  aforementioned  Chinaman. 
Somehow,  they  felt  that  he  was  in  the  way, 
for  he  was  doing  absolutely  nothing,  unless 
it  were  soaking  in  impressions,  as  Stevenson 
himself  was  doing.  My  own  cook  had  taken 
a  dislike  to  him  from  the  first,  and  refused 
point  blank  to  accept  any  assistance  from  him. 

So  it  came  about  that  the  Stevensons  rented 
a  little  cottage  up  the  lane  close  by.  The 
lane  has  gone  now,  and  with  it  the  cottage. 
But  although  he  no  longer  actually  lived  with 
me,  Stevenson  still  spent  a  large  part  of  his 
time  at  my  house;  and,  to  tell  the  truth,  he 
never  seemed  to  know  where  he  was  going 
to  have  his  dinner,  whether  at  his  own  place 
or  mine.  It  used  to  afford  us  a  good  deal  of 
amusement. 

"  Well,  Stevenson,"  I  would  say,  "  will 
you  stay  to  dinner?  " 

"  No,  thanks,  I'll  get  home."     And  then, 


X     u 


V  J3 


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■-; 

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ca 

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■ 

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INVALID  AND  GOOD  FELLOW     7 

as  an  after  thought:  "What  have  you  for 
dinner,  Moors?  " 

I  would  call  out  loudly,  inquiring  what  the 
cook  was  up  to.  May  be  it  was  something 
toothsome.     "  Well,  will  you  stay?  " 

"  Yes,  I'll  stay  —  for  my  stomach's  sake  \JJ 

Now,  Mrs.  Stevenson  prided  herself  on  her 
cooking,  and  sometimes  became  very  wroth 
with  her  husband,  when,  after  she  had  pre- 
pared a  good  meal,  there  was  no  Louis  to 
help  in  the  eating  of  it. 

Besides  being  a  fine  cook,  his  wife  had 
many  other  good  qualities.  She  possessed 
a  wonderful  fund  of  interesting  and  instruct- 
ive Information.  She  was  small  in  stature, 
and  in  complexion  dark,  her  features  were 
regular  and  pleasant  to  look  upon,  and  from 
her  photographs  I  judged  that  she  must  have 
been  a  handsome  girl. 

Though  she  was  probably  Mr.  Stevenson's 
senior  by  several  years,  the  hand  of  time  had 
dealt    leniently    with    her.      "  Fanny "    still 


8     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

pleased  her  talented  husband,  and  never  once 
did  I  hear  a  harsh  word  pass  between  them. 
If  there  was  any  divergence  of  opinion,  I  have 
no  doubt  the  lady  had  her  way;  for  Steven- 
son, always  alert  to  the  rights  of  others, 
would  surely  defer  to  his  wife's  desires  in 
every  reasonable  thing.  She  was  certainly 
very  much  attached  to  him,  and  I  used  to  like 
watching  the  attention  she  bestowed  on  her 
erratic  partner.  Sometimes  she  would  even 
come  and  drag  him  away,  in  the  middle  of  an 
animated  discussion,  declaring  that  "  too 
much  talk  is  not  good  for  Louis!  "  She  was 
always  assiduous  in  her  attentions,  and  his 
regard  for  her  was  no  less  pronounced. 
There  was  an  absence  of  anything  in  the  way 
of  loving  expressions,  but  their  affection  for 
each  other  was  firm  and  deep-rooted. 

From  the  outset  Stevenson  took  a  great  in- 
terest in  Samoan  affairs;  and  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  there  was  much  to  interest  him  at 
that  time,  for  the  country  was  in  a  very  un- 


INVALID  AND  GOOD  FELLOW     9 

settled  state  and  its  then  recent  history  full 
of  thrills  and  romantic  incident. 

With  every  passing  day  his  health  im- 
proved. "  Ah,"  he  would  exclaim  to  me, 
"  island  life  has  charms  not  to  be  found  else- 
where!  Half  the  ills  of  mankind  might  be 
shaken  off  without  doctor  or  medicine  by 
mere  residence  in  this  lovely  portion  of  the 
world.  How  little  our  friends  in  Europe 
know  of  the  ease  they  might  find  here  in 
Samoa." 

Though  he  never  gained  in  weight,  re- 
newed strength  came  to  him,  and  he  soon 
took  to  horseback  riding,  visiting  distant 
places  of  interest.  It  was  a  pleasant  change 
from  lying  on  his  back,  which  he  informed 
me  was  what  he  usually  had  to  do  in  a  cold 
climate.  Then  the  least  change  seemed  to 
affect  him,  and  woe  betide  the  person  who  in- 
advertently opened  the  door  of  his  room  and 
let  in  a  destructive  draught !  Now  he  began 
to  feel  young  again. 


io     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

Often  during  the  fine  evenings  we  nearly 
always  enjoy  in  Apia,  he  would  sit  on  my  bal- 
cony facing  the  moonlit  sea;  and  he  would 
relate  in  his  most  engaging  way  some  of  his 
experiences  and  adventures  to  eastward  in  the 
Marquesas  and  Tahiti  groups,  and  then 
would  carry  me  with  him  in  a  dissertation  on 
the  wildly  savage  Gilberts.  I  was  familiar 
with  all  the  different  islands  and  having  vis- 
ited them  much  earlier  than  he  had,  I  was 
able  to  point  out  how  conditions  had  been 
modified  by  the  arrival  of  white  settlers. 
Unquestionably  Stevenson  had  been  hand- 
somely treated  wherever  he  had  penetrated, 
and  he  and  his  wife  constantly  referred  to 
their  many  friends,  both  native  and  white. 

At  last  one  day  Stevenson  told  me  he 
would  like  to  make  his  home  in  Samoa  per- 
manently. "  I  like  this  place  better  than  any 
I  have  seen  in  the  Pacific,"  he  said.  He  had 
been  to  Honolulu,  and  liked  it;  Tahiti  and 
the  Marquesas  had  pleased  him;  but  of  all 
places  he  liked  Samoa  the  best.      "  Honolu- 


INVALID  AND  GOOD  FELLOW     n 

lu's  good  —  very  good,"  he  added;  "but 
this  seems  more  savage !  " 

I  laughed,  but  understood.  "  Then,"  said 
I,  "  as  you  can't  live  in  Scotland,  in  France, 
or  in  the  States,  and  as  there's  more  of  the 
savage  in  you  than  Honolulu  can  satisfy,  why 
not  pitch  your  camp  near  the  capital  of 
Samoa?  " 

Beyond  a  little  desultory  conversation  on 
the  subject,  he  said  they  had  not  seriously  dis- 
cussed it.  He  promised,  however,  that  the 
matter  should  be  decided  without  much  delay. 
As  soon  as  the  decision  was  reached,  he  has- 
tened to  inform  me,  and  we  shook  hands  on 
it.  "  Barkis  is  willin',"  he  said  —  and 
"  Barkis  "  stood  for  "  Fanny." 

He  now  asked  me  to  look  out  for  a  nice 
piece  of  property  that  would  suit  him. 
Money  matters  seemed  to  trouble  him,  how- 
ever —  not  so  much  the  first  cost  of  the  land, 
but  the  cost  of  the  improvements  that  would 
necessarily  have  to  follow.  Finally,  after 
several  fine  properties  had  been  submitted  to 


12     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

him  for  inspection,  he  decided  that  the  Vail- 
ima  land  was  the  most  attractive.  At  his  re- 
quest, I  negotiated  the  purchase.  There 
were  four  hundred  acres,  and  I  paid  $4000. 
And  on  this  land  Vailima  was  afterwards 
built. 

Vailima!  —  it  means  "five  waters;"  but 
with  the  lapse  of  time  the  configuration  of  the 
country  has  altered,  and  you  will  only  find  two 
streams  running  there  now. 


\   waterfall   Bixty   feel   high  in  the  northwest   corner  of  the  Vailima 

propeny 


CHAPTER  II 

IN    THE    SOUTH    SEAS 

Directly  after  his  arrival  in  Samoa,  when 
the  newness  of  the  place  had  worn  off  a  little, 
Stevenson  resumed  his  occupation  of  writing 
a  series  of  letters  for  publication  in  the 
United  States.  Subsequently  these  letters 
were  revised  and  republished  under  the  title 
In  the  South  Seas.  I  remember  Steven- 
son's telling  me  what  "  a  wonderful  fellow  " 
the  publisher  of  these  letters,  Mr.  McClure, 
was — "one  of  the  most  generous  and  en- 
terprising men  I  ever  met.  Just  think !  He 
came  all  the  way  to  California  to  see  me 
—  which  in  itself  was  a  great  honor;  and, 
without  resort  to  subterfuge,  he  announced 
the  fact  boldly,  saying,  '  I  have  traveled 
across  the  continent  to  have  a  talk  with  you 

13 


14     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

about  your  proposed  trip  to  the  South  Seas. 
I  represent  a  syndicate  of  newspapers  and 
magazines  in  which  short  stories  are  pub- 
lished simultaneously,  coming  out  the  same 
morning  in  almost  every  city  in  the  Union. 
We  are  on  the  lookout  for  the  very  best  we 
can  get,  and  we  are  always  ready  to  pay  the 
highest  price.  Now,  if  you  will  write  me 
weekly  letters,  describing  your  experiences  in 
the  Pacific,  I  could  have  them  published  all 
over  the  land,  and  a  great  audience  would  en- 
joy them.  Can  you  do  this  work,  and  if  so 
what  will  you  ask  for  it  ?  '  '  How  many  let- 
ters do  you  want  ?  '  I  asked.  '  As  many  as 
you  like  —  say  fifty;  that  will  keep  us  going 
for  a  year.  Just  interesting  jottings. 
Write  about  whatever  interests  you  most  and 
send  it  along.  Will  you  do  it?'  'Well  I 
don't  know  what  to  ask  for  a  class  of  work 
I  have  never  done  before.  I  am  not  sure  I 
can  please  you,  but  I  am  willing  to  try. 
What  do  you  think  would  be  a  fair  price,  Mr. 
McClure  ?  '     '  Name  your  own  terms  —  I  am 


a 
u 

c 
o 


v. 


M 

IB 


- 


IN  THE  SOUTH  SEAS  15 

prepared  to  pay  anything  that  is  reasonable.' 
I  set  to  thinking  about  it;  and  ultimately,  re- 
membering that  there  were  so  many  papers 
in  the  syndicate,  I  considered  they  ought  to 
be  able  to  pay  a  pretty  good  price  between 
them.  So  I  said:  '  I  will  do  it  for  $100  a 
letter,  or  $5000  for  the  fifty  letters,  which 
is  making  no  reduction  for  a  quantity.'  Mc- 
Clure  jumped  up  from  his  chair  and  ex- 
clamed,  'Shake  hands,  Stevenson!  I'll  give 
you  twice  as  much ;  I'll  give  you  $200  for 
each  letter  of  from  a  column  to  a  column  and 
a  half  in  length  —  $10,000  for  the  fifty  let- 
ters !  And  if  you  want  any  of  the  money  now 
you  can  have  it!  '  Where,"  said  Stevenson, 
"  would  you  meet  such  a  charming  man  as 
that  —  except  in  fiction?" 

It  was  on  this  work  that  he  was  engaged 
during  the  couple  of  months  he  was  at  my 
house  and  while  we  were  negotiating  for  the 
purchase  of  Vailima;  and  of  all  the  tasks  he 
ever  undertook  I  think  that  was  the  most  dis- 
tasteful to  him.     These  letters  were  the  trou- 


1 6     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

ble  and  worry  of  his  life.  In  due  course 
newspapers  began  to  arrive  from  the  States 
containing  his  work,  and  as  I  was  a  sub- 
scriber to  a  number  of  these  papers  I  had  let- 
ters from  the  South  Seas  all  around  me  when 
mail  day  came.  I  read  them  and  was  disap- 
pointed. I  never  mentioned  them  to  him,  or 
if  I  did,  I  certainly  had  not  much  to  say  in 
praise  of  them. 

Stevenson  himself  soon  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  he  was  not  made  for  writing  newspa- 
per articles,  and  several  times  he  told  me  what 
a  bore  they  were  to  him.  He  was  a  man  who 
liked  to  have  his  efforts  recognized,  and  I 
know  he  was  keenly  disappointed  at  the  re- 
ception accorded  these  letters  by  the  reading 
public.  They  fell  quite  flat;  and  Stevenson, 
who  knew  this,  spared  no  pains  to  make  each 
one  he  wrote  better  than  the  last. 

"  Moors,"  he  said  to  me  one  day,  "  I'm 
satisfied  that  this  is  not  my  line.  I'm  afraid 
I'm  doing  myself  no  good  by  writing  these 


IN  THE  SOUTH  SEAS  17 

letters,  but  I've  made  this  engagement  with 
McClure  and  will  have  to  go  on." 

Some  time  afterwards,  while  he  was  still 
engaged  on  this  business,  I  was  in  Chicago. 
I  had  taken  over  a  South  Sea  Island  exhibit 
for  the  World's  Fair.  Samoan  houses  were 
erected  on  the  Midway  Plaisance,  and  while 
I  was  there  in  charge  of  the  twenty-five  island- 
ers and  various  exhibits,  I  met  Mr.  McClure. 
He  was  very  friendly,  and  asked  me  all  about 
Stevenson  and  his  work  in  Samoa.  I"  told 
him  how  distasteful  Stevenson  found  the 
writing  of  his  South  Sea  Letters.  "  I  have 
no  doubt  he  would  come  to  a  full  stop  imme- 
diately, if  he  had  not  entered  into  this  en- 
gagement with  you,"  I  added. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  McClure,  "  he  needn't 
finish  them  if  he  doesn't  want  to.  They  do 
not  do  him  justice  and  we  can  get  on  without 
them.  But  I  couldn't  very  well  tell  him  so 
—  how  could  I  tell  Stevenson  that?  Of 
course,  these  letters  are  a  disappointment,  and 


1 8     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

there's  no  denying  it.  However,  it's  more 
my  fault  than  his;  he's  trying  to  do  some- 
thing which  I  ought  not  to  have  suggested." 

Throughout  he  spoke  most  kindly  of  Ste- 
venson, and  evinced  a  lively  interest  in  my  ac- 
count of  his  doings  in  Samoa.  He  confirmed 
Stevenson's  statement  as  to  the  high  price  that 
was  being  paid  for  the  letters. 

When  I  returned  to  Apia,  I  again  dis- 
cussed the  subject  of  these  letters  with  the 
writer  of  them,  telling  him  of  my  meeting 
with  Mr.  McClure. 

"  Now,  Stevenson,"  I  said,  "  do  not  let 
this  work  annoy  you  any  longer;  get  on  to 
something  which  is  more  in  your  style.  All 
you  have  to  do  in  this  matter  is  to  ask 
McClure  to  let  you  off,  and  to  stop  the  let- 
ters. I  am  quite  convinced  that  he  will  fall 
in  with  your  wishes,  for  I  have  already 
sounded  him  on  the  subject;  in  fact,  he  told 
me  that  you  might  stop  them  if  it  really  was 
your  desire  to  do  so." 


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IN  THE  SOUTH  SEAS  19 

Stevenson  was  greatly  relieved;  and  so  it 
was  that  this  oppressive  work  came  to  an 
end. 


CHAPTER  III 

HIS    FIRST    WORK   IN    SAMOA. 

After  I  had  bought  the  Vailima  land  for 
Stevenson,  it  was  arranged  that  I  should 
build  him  a  house  upon  it,  a  temporary  struc- 
ture in  which  the  family  might  live  pending 
the  erection  of  a  more  commodious  building. 
It  was  to  be  a  very  cheap  affair,  with  but  three 
or   four  rooms. 

Meantime,  Stevenson,  accompanied  by  his 
wife  and  Lloyd  Osbourne,  went  off  on  a 
jaunt  to  Sydney.  It  had  long  been  his  de- 
sire to  visit  Australia,  and  he  thought  this 
would  be  a  good  opportunity.  I  built  this 
small  cottage,  and  on  my  own  responsibility 
I  had  a  passion  fruit  arbor  erected  a  little 
distance  away,  with  a  summer  house  on  the 
top  of  it,  thinking  that  it  would  make  a  suit- 

20 


Tivoli  Road,  on  the  waj  to  Vailima 


HIS  FIRST  WORK  IN  SAMOA     21 

able  place  for  the  novelist  to  do  his  writing 
in. 

When  he  returned  from  Sydney,  he  told 
me  that  his  health  had  suffered  by  the  trip. 
No  sooner  had  he  begun  to  feel  the  colder 
airs  than  his  strength  seemed  to  leave  him, 
so  that  when  he  reached  Port  Jackson  he 
was  hardly  able  to  get  ashore.  Shortly  after 
his  arrival  in  Sydney  he  was  measured  for 
some  dress  clothes  and  other  wearing  apparel, 
but  he  was  able  to  make  little  use  of  them, 
for  most  of  his  time  in  the  city  was  spent  in 
bed.  He  could  not  go  out  anywhere,  and 
the  visitors  who  called  upon  him  had  in  a 
good  many  instances  to  make  the  return  calls 
themselves.  I  was  not  surprised  that  in 
these  circumstances,  he  had  fled  back  to  Sa- 
moa at  the  first  opportunity.  It  was  wonder- 
ful how  he  regained  his  health  again  under 
the  influence  of  the  genial  warmth  of  the 
tropics,  for  in  four  or  five  days  after  his  re- 
turn to  Apia  he  was  to  be  seen  riding  about 
on  horseback  full  of  life  and  vigor. 


22     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

The  small  family  immediately  took  up 
their  residence  in  the  cottage  I  had  built  for 
them.  Stevenson  was  highly  pleased  with 
what  had  been  done.  Among  other  things, 
I  had  cleared  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
land,  probably  eight  or  ten  acres.  At  that 
time  there  was  no  government  to  make  roads, 
and  the  track  up  to  Vailima  was  exceedingly 
rough  and  rugged.  Great  logs  lay  across  it, 
covered  with  vines,  and  the  forest  under- 
growth was  so  thick  in  places  as  to  be  almost 
impenetrable  for  people  carrying  loads.  On 
Stevenson's  behalf,  after  his  return,  I  con- 
tracted with  the  natives  to  clear  the  track, 
making  it  about  eight  feet  wide.  This  work 
occupied  a  long  time,  for  the  property,  sit- 
uated as  it  was  at  the  side  of  Vaea  Mountain, 
was  over  three  miles  from  the  town.  Every- 
thing that  was  needed  at  Vailima  had  to  be 
taken  up  on  pack-horses;  sometimes  it  was 
even  done  by  man-power.  Stevenson's 
brown  pony  "  Jack,"  made  famous  by  the 
Vailima  Letters  was  bought  from  me;  and, 


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HIS  FIRST  WORK  IN  SAMOA     23 

in  addition,  I  imported  two  big  cart  horses 
from  Auckland  for  him.  As  soon  as  the 
road  was  in  a  passable  state,  we  got  a  two- 
wheeled  dray  to  work,  carting  material  from 
Apia  for  increasing  the  size  of  the  cottage. 
"Elbow  room!  Elbow  room!"  said  Ste- 
venson — "  let's  have  elbow  room  !  " 

Not  very  long  after  this  he  went  off  on 
a  trip  in  an  island  steamer,  visiting  Raro- 
tonga  and  the  island  of  Nassau,  lying  some 
five  hundred  miles  eastward  of  Samoa.  Af- 
terwards he  went  to  Easter  Island,  where 
some  remarkable  relics  of  bygone  ages  are 
to  be  seen,  and  on  this  voyage  visited  also 
various  islands  in  the  Ellice  and  Marshall 
groups. 

On  coming  back,  he  settled  down  to  A 
Footnote  to  History.  The  material  for  this 
was  largely  supplied  by  myself,  and  for  the 
most  part  the  book  was  written  in  my  house. 
His  affection  for  the  natives  of  Samoa  is  well 
known.  To  him  they  were  the  most  lovable 
people  in  all  the  Pacific,  and  they  were  deeply 


24     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

touched  by  his  sympathetic  interest  in  them. 
It  was  but  natural  that  in  the  then  unhappy 
state  of  affairs  he  should  turn  to  this  work, 
in  an  endeavor  to  do  something  towards  bet- 
tering the  lot  of  these  dusky  inhabitants  of 
the  land  who  had  been  subjected  to  so  much 
harsh  treatment  and  so  many  indignities  by 
foreign  Powers.  Those  were  troublous 
times;  and  when  Stevenson  told  me  that  he 
proposed  to  put  the  true  facts  of  the  case  be- 
fore the  world  I  gladly  consented  to  supply 
him  with  all  the  information  that  lay  in  my 
power. 

I  had  frequently  assisted  the  natives  at 
times  when  I  believed  that  their  cause  was 
righteous.  Not  only  the  Samoans,  but  some 
of  the  foreigners  also,  had  just  cause  for 
complaint.  I  knew  that  I  possessed  the  con- 
fidence of  the  natives;  and  the  subject  be- 
comes pertinent  because  sometimes  Stevenson 
was  associated  with  me  in  movements 
which  were  far  from  receiving  official 
approval.     In  a  word,  owing  to  my  occupa- 


HIS  FIRST  WORK  IN  SAMOA     25 

tion  and  experience  I  saw  more  than  any 
other  man  of  what  was  going  on  behind  the 
scenes,  and  since  Stevenson's  death  I  have 
been  repeatedly  asked  to  continue  the  history 
from  the  period  where  he  left  off,  for  the 
later  story  is  far  more  thrilling  than  the 
earlier. 

Having  completed  the  story  of  Samoa, 
Stevenson  arranged  to  have  it  published  in 
America,  and  he  was  most  anxious  that  it 
should  be  done  speedily.  It  was  a  critical 
time,  and  if  the  book  was  to  be  of  any  as- 
sistance to  the  natives  it  was  very  necessary 
that  it  should  be  turned  out  quickly.  Sev- 
eral sets  of  proofs  arrived,  and  these  Steven- 
son carefully  corrected,  after  which  he  sent 
copies  to  his  friend,  Mr.  R.  Hetherington 
Carruthers,  solicitor,  of  Apia,  and  to  myself, 
with  a  request  that  we  should  read  them  over 
and  give  him  our  advice.  I  am  bound  to  say 
that  I  had  a  number  of  objections  to  offer, 
notwithstanding  that  certain  parts  dealing 
with   exploits   of   mine   had   previously   been 


26     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

toned  down  in  manuscript.  "  Stevenson," 
said  I,  "  you  must  remember  that  I  have 
made  this  place  my  home,  and  here  it  is  that 
I  earn  my  daily  bread.  What  in  heaven's 
name  will  the  authorities  do  to  me  if  they 
see  all  this  in  print?  " 

From  these  proofs,  as  corrected  by  Ste- 
venson, I  have  taken  the  excerpts  that  appear 
on  the  opposite  page.  These  corrections  are 
in  Stevenson's  own  hand. 


lieved.      But  Tamasese  must  have  both  believed 
and  trembled.     The  prestige  of  the  European 
powers  was  still   unbroken.      No   native  would 
then   have   dreamed   of    defying   th*«d   colossal    e<-eJ 
shins    worked  bv  mysterious  powers,  and  laden 
with    outlandish   instruments   of    death.       None 
would  have  dreamed  of  resisting  those  strange 
but   quite   unrealised    £reat    Powers,  understood     G  J 
(with  difficulty)  to   be    larger   than    Tonga   and      -^ 
Samoa  put  together,  and  known  to  be  prolific  of 
(*♦♦*/,  knives,  hard    biscuit,  picture   books,   and  Jrf^fe"  / 
other  luxuries,   as  well   as  of   overbearing   men 
and  inconsistent  orders       l.aupepa   had   fallen 


yi 
I  am  ignorant  in  their   niceti..*,  a  nd-4TVc~-alTrrre       ,~\ 
w-hcrc   I  liai'e   notn'-tu  innaull ,    but  UnV-^etnTrs    ( 
t»-iin!   a  puui    employment    for   a   >>hip  of   wat. 
The  ^f+ms-ft^aoa^  had  been  sold  long  since   iv^JLveo/ 
to  Tarawa,  Apaiang,  and  Pleasant  Island;  places  ' 

unheard  of  by  the  general  reader,  where  ob- 
scure inhabitants  paid  for  these  instruments  of 
death  in  money  or  in  labour,  misused  them  as 
it  was  known  they  would  be  misused,  and  had 
been  disarmed  by  force.  •  And  nm|  jlhe  Birr  [D 
had  brought  back  the  guns  to  a  German  cum-  ' 

ter,  whence  many  must  have  been  original!) 
sold;  and  was  here  engaged,  like  a  shopboy,  in 
their  distribution  to  fresh   purchasers.      Sui  h  is 

There    was    nothing    to    surprise    in    this    dis. 

covery;   and    had   events   been    guided    at   the 

same   time   with    a    stead)    and   discreet    hand,   it 
might  have  passed  with  less  observation.     Hut, 

the    polit  \    ot    H.cker    was    tell    to    lie    not    onl\M"i«*p*T 

r,-.  klfssl  hut  iih;iiii'»i}: — Sudden  nocturnal  onfallsf***'*-    . 

r.      ■  I,,,-  I  •jL^^-aA 

upon    native   boats   could    lead.   It  was   trlt.  to   no  I     . 

good  end  whether  of  pence  or  war;  the)  could 

but  exasperate;   they  might   prove,  in  a  moment 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   TWO   STEVENSONS, 

Many  a  day  and  many  a  night  did  Ste- 
venson spend  with  me.  Time  and  again, 
when  he  felt  played  out  and  written  out, 
when  inertia  or  despondency  seized  him, 
he  would  come  down  to  be  cheered  up. 
Sometimes  he  was  pretty  hopeless  — "  all 
done  for."  But,  as  a  rule,  it  was  nothing 
more  than  brain  weariness,  and  he  only  re- 
quired a  rest  to  put  him  right  again,  a  change 
of  atmosphere  and  surroundings.  After  a 
short  trip  away  he  always  came  back  bene- 
fited. I  fancy  the  women  folk  were  given 
to  coddling  him  too  much  at  home,  and  too 
much  of  this  is  good  for  neither  man  nor 
beast. 

Though  he  would  come  to  me  full  of  all 

27 


28     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

sorts  of  troubles,  he  rarely  uttered  a  word  of 
complaint  concerning  his  bodily  ailments;  in- 
deed, for  a  man  who  suffered  so  much  he 
was  one  of  the  most  resigned  and  uncom- 
plaining men  I  ever  met.  His  fortitude  in 
this  respect  was  one  of  the  distinguishing 
characteristics  of  the  man.  But  in  other 
matters  he  was  easily  upset,  and  I  have  seen 
him  get  into  a  rage  over  the  most  trivial 
thing.  I  have  likewise  seen  him  engrossed  in 
trifling  subjects;  and  I  have  known  him  to 
use  his  best  energies  to  assist  a  friend  in  some 
small  matter  in  which  he  had  little  or  no  real 
concern. 

When  in  a  rage  he  was  a  study.  Once 
excite  him,  and  you  had  another  Stevenson. 
I  have  seen  him  in  all  moods.  I  have  seen 
him  sitting  on  my  table,  dangling  his  bony 
legs  in  the  air,  chatting  away  in  the  calmest 
manner  possible;  and  I  have  seen  him,  be- 
coming suddenly  agitated,  jump  from  that 
table  and  stalk  to  and  fro  across  the  floor 
like  some  wild   forest   animal,   to   which   he 


THE  TWO  STEVENSONS        29 

has,  indeed,  been  already  compared.  His 
face  would  glow  and  his  eyes  would  flash, 
darkening,  lighting,  scintillating,  hypnotiz- 
ing you  with  their  brilliance  and  the  burning 
fires  within.  In  calm  they  were  eyes  of 
strange  beauty,  with  an  expression  that  is  al- 
most beyond  the  power  of  pen  to  describe. 
"  Eyes  half  alert,  half  sorrowful,"  said  our 
common  friend,  Mr.  Carruthers,  once,  and 
I  have  neither  read  nor  heard  anything 
which  seems  to  approach  so  near  the  mark. 
They  carried  in  them  a  strange  mixture  of 
what  seemed  to  be  at  once  the  sorrow  and 
joy  of  life,  and  there  appeared  to  be  a  haunt- 
ing sadness  in  their  very  brightness. 

Sometimes  you  would  catch  him  in  what 
was  almost  a  spiritualistic  trance,  and  I  really 
believe  there  was  a  good  deal  of  the  spiri- 
tualistic in  his  nature.  I  remember  that  he 
used  to  tell  me  some  remarkably  good  ghost 
stories  —  short  tales  that  would  make  one's 
flesh  creep  —  and  he  declared  they  were  true, 
or  at  least  he  gave  them  the  credit  of  being 


30     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

authentic.  Certainly  he  believed  them  him- 
self, and  no  jesting  remark  of  mine  could 
shake  him  in  his  faith.  But  I  never  heard 
him  say  that  he  had  seen  a  ghost.  Once  he 
informed  me  that  in  certain  parts  of  France 
the  people  believed  there  were  spirits,  or 
"  spirit  animals,"  which  accompanied  them 
in  their  walks.  For  instance,  some  who 
dwelt  in  those  parts  believed  that  just  behind 
them,  or  at  their  side,  there  trotted  along 
"spirit  wolves;"  others  were  attended  by 
"  spirit  dogs,"  and  so  convinced  were  they  of 
it  that  they  fancied  they  actually  heard  the 
supernatural  footfalls,  and  they  would  cau- 
tiously and  fearfully  glance  behind  them,  as 
if  expecting  to  see  something  tangible  and 
animated. 

Stevenson  1  said  he  could  not  help  some- 
times believing  these  things.  He  did  not 
know  why  —  he  could  see  no  reason  for  it  — 

1  Stevenson  contributed  some  data  concerning  his  own 
experiences  in  the  field  of  the  abnormal  to  the  So- 
ciety for  Psychical  Research.  See  also  his  chapter  on 
"  Dreams." 


THE  TWO  STEVENSONS       31 

but  at  times  the  belief  seemed  to  grow  on 
him;  and  he  would  remind  me  that  there  were 
"  more  things  in  heaven  and  earth  than  are 
dreamt  of  in  your  philosophy."  On  many 
occasions,  he  said,  he  had  fancied  he  heard 
these  same  footfalls,  as  if  spirits  followed 
him,  and  he  had  looked  round  sharply,  only 
to  see  a  log  across  the  road  or  the  bushes 
swaying  in  the  wind. 

"  But  you  know,"  he  would  say,  "  my  in- 
ability to  penetrate  such  mysteries  is  no  proof 
that  they  do  not  exist." 

We  never  discussed  the  Bible  seriously,  so 
far  as  I  recollect.  Reverent  always,  where 
matters  of  religion  were  concerned,  Stevenson 
was  not  what  I  regard  as  a  religious  man  — 
and  this,  despite  the  fact  that  for  a  month  or 
two  he  taught  in  the  Sunday  school  at  Apia. 
The  interest  he  took  in  the  Sunday  school, 
in  my  view,  was  more  that  of  the  student  of 
human  nature,  the  psychologist,  the  writer  of 
stories,  than  of  one  who  was  really  concerned 
for    the    spiritual     welfare    of    his    pupils, 


32     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

whether  whites  or  half-castes  —  for  the  full- 
blood  Samoan  children  did  not  come  under 
his  purview.  Stevenson,  though  he  was 
more  or  less  a  dual  personality,  was  mostly 
Bohemian;  and  more  than  once,  to  his  an- 
noyance, has  he  been  surprised  in  Bohemia. 
The  Stevenson  whom  some  writers  have  told 
us  of  —  the  man  of  morals,  the  preacher, 
the  maker  of  prayers  —  is  not  the  Stevenson 
I  knew.  Yet  it  is  true  that  he  moralized  and 
preached  in  his  own  peculiar  way,  and  true 
that  he  wrote  some  exquisite  prayers.  The 
truth  is,  there  were  two  Stevensons!  And 
I  write  of  this  strange  dual  personality  as  I 
found  it,  not  as  revealed  through  the  looking 
glass  of  the  man's  books. 

What  does  he  say  himself  of  this  Sunday 
school  business?  "The  Sunday  school 
racket,"  he  writes  to  his  friend  Sidney  Col- 
vin,  "  is  only  an  experiment  which  I  took  up 
at  the  request  of  the  late  American  land  com- 
missioner; I  am  trying  it  for  a  month,  and  if 
I  do  as  ill  as  I  believe,  and  the  boys  find  it 


A  Samoan  maiden  in  full  dress,  typical  of  the  belles  <>f  Steven  on' 
.time-  as" well  as  of  to-day 


THE  TWO  STEVENSONS        33 

only  half  as  tedious  as  I  do,  I  think  it  will 
end  in  a  month.  I  have  carte  blanche  and 
say  what  I  like;  but  does  a  single  soul  under- 
stand me?"  The  experiment  certainly  was 
of  short  duration. 

Up  to  the  time  of  his  mother's  arrival  in 
Samoa  I  think  Stevenson's  attendance  at 
church  was  very  casual;  but  after  she  came 
he  was  a  most  regular  attendant.  He 
frankly  told  me  that  he  went  principally  to 
please  her.  His  mother  was,  indeed,  a  great 
church-goer,  which  could  not  be  said  of  his 
wife,  nor  Mrs.  Strong,  his  wife's  daughter. 
The  family  as  a  whole  was  not  a  "  religious  ' 
family.  There  was  not  that  odor  of  sanctity 
about  the  Vailima  home  that  many  have 
sought  to  invest  it  with;  far  from  it.  I  be- 
lieve that  during  his  mother's  first  period  of 
residence  with  him,  Stevenson  used  to  have 
prayers  at  eight  o'clock  every  morning,  the 
whole  household  being  present;  and  to  suit 
the  character  of  the  gathering  there  was  a 
judicious  mixture  of  the  English  and  the  Sa- 


34     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

moan  languages.  Gradually,  however,  the 
practice  was  abandoned,  being  reserved  for 
Sunday  evenings  only.  After  this  change  had 
taken  place,  Stevenson  wrote  in  a  letter  to 
George  Meredith :  "  We  have  prayers  on 
Sunday  night  —  I  am  a  perfect  pariah  in 
the  island  not  to  have  them  oftener,  but  the 
spirit  is  unwilling  and  the  flesh  proud,  and 
I  can't  go  it  more."  This  word  "  pariah  " 
he  also  applied  to  himself  on  another  occa- 
sion. He  had  taken  part  in  a  paper  chase  on 
the  Vailima  plantation  on  a  Sunday.  "  I  am 
now  a  pariah  among  the  English,"  he  wrote; 
"  I  must  not  go  again;  it  gives  so  much  un- 
necessary tribulation  to  poor  people." 

One  night  we  talked  about  the  mysteries 
of  life  and  death,  of  heaven  and  hell.  I 
said  I  did  not  believe  in  hell  at  all. 
"  Neither  do  I,"  said  Stevenson  — "  not  in  a 
lake  of  fire,  anyway,  nor  in  a  remorseless, 
unappeasable  God."  He  certainly  had  not 
that  blind  faith  of  a  little  child  which  some 
preachers  say  must  precede  an  entrance  into 


THE  TWO  STEVENSONS       35 

the  realms  of  bliss.  It  made  him  angry  to 
think  that  there  could  be  some  men  in  these 
days  of  enlightenment  ready  to  preach  such 
a  doctrine  as  a  hell  of  fire  and  brimstone. 
"  How  is  it,"  he  asked,  "  that  men  only  be- 
lieve in  God  when  they  are  in  trouble?" 

Stevenson  was  broad-minded,  with  a  wide 
catholicity  in  his  nature.  He  was  always  on 
excellent  terms  with  the  Marist  priests  resi- 
dent in  Samoa;  he  had  the  highest  regard 
for  them,  and  they  for  him.  Strangely 
enough,  all  his  best  boys  in  Vailima  belonged 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  This  was, 
however,  purely  accidental.  Discussing  this 
church  with  him  on  one  occasion,  he  told  me 
that  he  approved  of  the  elaborate  ceremonial. 
Besides  being  very  impressive  in  itself,  he 
considered  it  was  altogether  right  and  proper. 
To  his  mind,  the  impressive  ceremonial  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  was  responsible  for  a 
feeling  of  solemnity  that  was  absent  in  other 
churches,  and  its  pervading  and  altogether 
wholesome  influence  was  felt  by  many  whom 


j 


36     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

the  more  somber  churches  failed  to  attract. 
"  Penny  plain,  twopence  colored  " —  and, 
though  he  did  not  turn  Catholic  he  certainly 
was  an  admirer  of  the  "  twopence  colored !  " 

He  drew  a  comparison  between  ceremonial 
and  sermons.  "  What  is  the  use,"  he  asked, 
"  of  a  man  preaching  a  sermon,  however 
polished,  however  concise  and  convincing  in 
itself,  unless  it  is  delivered  in  such  a  spirit  as 
to  move  those  who  hear  it?  The  wisest 
words  and  the  best  sentiments  coming  from 
a  wooden  image  are  lost  forever,  and  no  one 
benefits.  What  a  waste  of  time  and  valu- 
able material  it  is  to  educate  and  prepare 
amiable  and  talented  young  men  for  the  min- 
istry who  lack  convincing  style,  and  who 
from  the  very  beginning  are  devoid  of  those 
attributes  absolutely  essential  to  fair  progress 
in   their   chosen   calling." 

There  could  be  no  mistaking  his  meaning. 
Wonderful  words  of  wisdom  often  fall  upon 
deaf  ears  because  the  man  who  utters  them 
stands  cold  as  a  statue,  and  fails  to  give  his 


n's  servants,  his  "cowboy."     A  typical  Sa  oung 

man 


THE  TWO  STEVENSONS       37 

words  that  ring  of  earnestness  and  sincerity 
by  which  alone  they  will  speed  to  the  ears 
and  hearts  of  his  hearers.  Himself  a  man 
who  wrote  exquisite  sentences,  who  out  of 
words  wove  the  happiest  of  phrases,  he  knew 
how  to  appreciate  the  value  of  good  words. 
He  needed  no  dictionary  by  his  side,  for  he 
appeared  to  me  to  have  mastered  it  from 
cover  to  cover;  it  was  a  rare  thing  with  him 
to  have  to  search  for  the  meaning  of  a  word. 

I  have  heard  it  said  that  in  some  parts  of 
England  there  are  to  be  found  many  people 
who  manage  to  get  through  life  with  a  vo- 
cabulary not  exceeding  five  hundred  words; 
and  it  was  because  he  saw  this  tendency  to 
let  many  of  the  best  words  in  our  tongue  lie 
rotting  in  the  dictionary,  that  Stevenson 
strove  to  dig  them  out  and  preserve  them, 
lest  they  decay  utterly.  "  What  is  the  use  of 
having  all  those  valuable  and  expressive 
words  in  your  dictionary,"  he  said,  "  if  you 
don't  do  anything  with  them?  " 

He  was  undoubtedly  a  great  word  user, 


38     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

as  well  as  a  master  of  style,  and  we  need  not 
wonder  when  we  find  him  saying  he  had  no 
liking  for  the  average  sermon.  Perhaps  he 
would  have  gone  to  church  a  little  more  in 
Apia  had  the  pulpit  utterances  been  of  a 
higher  standard. 


CHAPTER  V 

STEVENSON    AT    HOME. 

Villa  Vailima  was  erected  about  a  hundred 
yards  from  the  cottage  in  which  the  family 
at  first  resided,  and  consisted  of  some  nine 
rooms,  four  down  stairs  and  five  up  stairs. 
It  was  none  too  large,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  Joe  Strong  and  his  wife  took,  up 
their  abode  in  the  little  cottage,  for  a  good 
deal  of  entertaining  was  done,  and  there  were 
nearly  always  guests  in  the  house. 

As  Stevenson's  cousin,  Mr.  Graham  Bal- 
four, has  pointed  out,  the  chief  feature  was 
a  large  room  that  occupied  the  whole  of  the 
ground  floor  —  a  room  about  sixty  feet  long 
and  40  feet  wide,  lined  and  ceiled  with  var- 
nished red  wood  from  California.  "  Here," 
writes  Mr.  Balfour,  who  spent  many  months 

39 


4o    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

at  Vailima,  and  who  afterwards  wrote  the 
Life,  "  the  marble  bust  of  old  Robert  Ste- 
venson twinkled  with  approval  upon  the 
curiously  combined  company,  while  a  couple 
of  Burmese  gilded  idols  guarded  the  two 
posts  of  the  big  staircase  leading  directly 
from  the  room  to  the  upper  floor." 

Dear  me  —  the  fuss  there  was  in  getting 
that  house  built!  "  If  I  have  nothing  else," 
said  Stevenson,  as  we  sat  in  my  drawing- 
room  one  day,  "  I  must  have  a  fine  large  room 
like  this !  "  It  was  a  room  thirty  feet  by 
twenty  and  about  twelve  feet  high.  He  must 
also  have  just  such  another  wide  balcony  as 
mine.  As  a  preliminary  step,  he  employed 
a  local  carpenter  to  plan  a  house  for  him, 
indicating  the  main  essentials.  The  carpen- 
ter made  a  plan;  it  was  unsatisfactory. 
Then  a  number  of  other  carpenters  were 
called  in;  I  was  appealed  to;  Stevenson  him- 
self set  to  work;  Mrs.  Stevenson  took  a  hand. 
We  all  submitted  at  least  one  design  each; 
I  believe  I  submitted  three.     But  out  of  the 


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STEVENSON  AT  HOME        41 

whole  lot  not  one  was  without  blemish  in  his 
eyes.  When  he  went  on  his  visit  to  Sydney, 
he  was  still  wrestling  with  the  problem,  and 
when  he  came  back  he  informed  me  that  he 
had  consulted  an  architect  in  that  city.  He 
produced  a  plan.  "  If  I  haven't  anything 
else  to  thank  Sydney  for,"  he  said,  "  I've 
got  this  plan!  It  suits  me  exactly  —  it's 
simply  wonderful !  —  you'll  be  delighted  with 
it!  "  And  he  insisted  on  my  going  over  it 
with  him,  line  by  line,  a  few  hours  after  his 
return. 

I  saw  at  once  that  the  drawing  was  done 
on  an  exceedingly  generous  scale.  "  How 
about  the  expense  ?  '  I  asked ;  for  I  knew 
his  means  were  limited. 

II  Oh,"  he  said,  "  I  never  thought  of  that. 
It  will  have  to  be  gone  into,  won't  it?  I 
wish  you'd  try  to  figure  it  out  for  me." 

I  started  on  it  one  day,  and  found  it  a  big 
job.  Various  matters  delayed  me,  and  Ste- 
venson came  down  to  see  me  several  times 
about  it  before  I  had  concluded  my  calcula- 


42     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

tions.  Ultimately  I  told  him  that  to  build 
a  house  on  the  lines  laid  down  in  this  plan 
would  cost  him  something  over  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars.  For  the  dining-room  was 
of  enormous  size,  and  the  other  rooms  were 
proportionately  large;  and  this  meant  that 
the  whole  thing  was  out  of  proportion  to  his 
pocket  which  did  not  extend  beyond  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars. 

So  it  came  about  that  that  famous  plan 
was  laid  aside,  and  the  local  carpenters  were 
called  in  once  more.  All  of  us,  in  fact,  set 
to  work  again,  and  at  length  a  plan  was  pro- 
duced which  satisfied  Stevenson.  I  believe 
he  drew  it  himself,  with  the  aid  of  his  wife. 
I  thought  it  the  most  ungainly  design  ever 
devised.  Among  other  things  provision 
was  made  for  a  brick  chimney  to  run  up 
through  the  house  and  open  on  both  floors. 
Now  bricks  were  very  scarce  and  consequently 
very  dear  in  Samoa  at  that  time  —  I  think 
they  were  worth  about  eight  cents  each  — 
and  as  they  would  have  to  be   transported 


STEVENSON  AT  HOME        43 

from  Apia  up  the  rough  road  to  Vailima, 
three  miles  away,  the  cartage  on  them  would 
be  hardly  less  than  the  actual  cost  of  the 
bricks.  There  was  a  long  and  steep  hill  to 
be  negotiated  on  the  way.  In  addition  to 
the  bricks,  the  sand  and  the  cement  would 
also  have  to  be  hauled  up  from  the  beach. 
I  concluded  that  the  chimney  itself  would 
cost  above  one  thousand  dollars,  and  I  ven- 
tured to  remark  that  such  a  luxury  was  to- 
tally unnecessary  in  a  tropical  climate. 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  don't  know  that  we 
will  ever  light  a  fire,  but  it's  good  to  know 
that  if  you  want  to  light  one  you  have  a 
chimney  to  carry  the  smoke  away.  Moors," 
he  added,  "  a  fireplace  makes  a  house  look 
home-like." 

This  was  his  justification  for  the  chimney 
—  and  up  it  went.  It  was  rarely  used,  ex- 
cept at  the  beginning  —  and  then  it  didn't 
draw!  I  visited  the  house  often,  and  not 
once  did  I  see  a  fire  in  that  chimney.  The 
whole    place,    indeed,    seemed    to    me    ill-ar- 


44     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

ranged  and  inconvenient;  but  as  the  Steven- 
sons  appeared  to  be  entirely  pleased  with  it, 
why  should  I  grieve? 

The  purchasing  of  the  land  and  material 
for  the  house  placed  Stevenson  considerably 
in  my  debt.  I  had  also  supplied  him  with 
the  ready  money  he  needed  on  the  occasion 
of  his  visit  to  Sydney.  At  one  time  he  owed 
me  over  twelve  thousand  dollars.  Some- 
times it  used  to  worry  him,  but  I  never 
pressed  him  in  any  way,  simply  asking  to  be 
reimbursed  for  the  interest  I  was  myself  pay- 
ing at  the  time.  I  never  had  any  security 
from  him,  and  never  felt  that  I  needed  any; 
for  he  was  an  absolutely  upright  and  honor- 
able man  in  all  his  business  dealings. 

Instead  of  returning  from  Sydney  when 
Stevenson  returned  with  the  architect's  plans, 
Lloyd  Osbourne  proceeded  to  Scotland  to  set- 
tle up  the  novelist's  affairs.  To  assist  him 
principally  in  superintending  the  packing  up 
of  certain  of  Stevenson's  furniture  and 
books,   a   Mr.   King  was  sent  along.     King 


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STEVENSON  AT  HOME        45 

was  a  passenger  from  one  of  the  islands  to 
Sydney,  and  it  transpired  that  he  was  con- 
templating a  holiday  trip  to  England.  A 
few  days  after  making  his  acquaintance,  Ste- 
venson asked  him  if  he  would  assist  his  step- 
son in  the  work  I  have  mentioned.  King 
agreed  to  do  so,  and  from  that  moment  he 
was  in  Stevenson's  employ,  since  the  latter 
started  paying  him  then  and  there.  When 
Lloyd  Osbourne  and  King  came  back,  they 
brought  with  them,  in  addition  to  many 
other  things,  useful  and  useless,  an  ice  ma- 
chine and  a  machine  designed  to  distil  per- 
fume from  a  certain  fragrant  tree  that  was 
to  be  found  on  the  Vailima  land;  also,  there 
came  a  couple  of  grape  vines  all  the  way 
from  Windsor.  These  vines  had  been 
placed  in  the  lamp  room  aboard  the  ship,  and 
when  Sydney  was  reached,  I  was  told,  there 
was  scarce  a  lamp  free  from  the  clinging  em- 
braces of  the  tendrils.  As  for  the  perfume 
still,  I  never  heard  of  its  proving  of  much 
use. 


46     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

King  was  employed  at  Vailima  for  some 
months;  according  to  his  own  version  he  left 
because  "  the  women  were  too  much  for  any 
man,  and  Lloyd  Osbourne  was  full  of  con- 
ceit." On  one  occasion,  he  says,  he  inter- 
rupted Stevenson  while  he  was  at  his  writing 
to  complain  of  "  the  women;  "  and  the  mas- 
ter of  the  house  put  his  pen  down,  yawned, 
sat  back  in  his  chair,  clasped  his  hands  be- 
hind his  head,  and  remarked,  "  Well,  King, 
you  know  what  women  are !  You  understand 
their  ways !  "  He  paused  a  moment,  then 
added,  "By  Jove,  no!  How  can  you? 
Show  me  the  man  who  does !  " 

Vailima,  as  originally  built,  must  have 
cost  about  seven  thousand  four  hundred  dol- 
lars. Adding  to  this  the  cost  of  the  land, 
four  thousand  dollars,  and  that  of  the  cot- 
tage, one  thousand  dollars,  it  will  be  seen  that 
Stevenson  had  already  spent  twelve  thousand 
dollars;  and  subsequently  he  put  up  by  con- 
tract an  addition  to  the  house  which  must 
have  cost  him  seven  thousand  five  hundred 


STEVENSON  AT  HOME        47 

dollars  more,  for  the  addition  was  larger  than 
the  main  building,  including  as  it  did,  the 
fine  reception  hall,  in  which  afterwards  many 
a  convivial  gathering  took  place. 

The  surrounding  scenery  was,  and  still  is, 
superb ;  and  Stevenson  was  enamored  of  it. 
Palms  of  various  kinds  swayed  gently  in  the 
breeze;  giant  cocoanut  trees  —  those  "vege- 
table giraffes,"  as  he  somewhere  calls  them 
—  reared  their  heads  gracefully  in  the  air; 
the  croton  and  the  hybiscus  blazed  out  in 
their  glory.  High  up  above  towered  Mount 
Yaea,  clothed  with  tropical  verdure;  away 
down  below  were  the  long  stretch  of  sea  and 
the  white  lines  of  the  reef.  It  was  a  home 
of  luxuriance. 

Dr.  Japp,  in  his  book  on  Stevenson,  errs 
in  stating  that  Stevenson  cleared  the  whole 
of  the  four  hundred  acres  comprising  the 
Vailima  property;  he  cleared  only  fifteen 
acres,  and  part  of  this  was  done  by  myself 
during  the  time  he  was  in  Sydney.  On  these 
fifteen   acres  he   farmed   and   gardened,   and 


48     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

his  Letters  show  how  the  farming  life  got 
into  his  system  —  so  that  "  if  I  go  out  and 
make  a  sixpence  bossing  my  laborers  and 
plying  the  cutlass  or  spade,  idiot  conscience  ap- 
plauds me;  if  I  sit  in  the  house  and  make 
twenty  pounds,  idiot  conscience  wails  over 
my  neglect  and  the  day  wasted."  But 
he  would  never  have  made  a  fortune  —  I 
doubt  if  he  ever  would  have  made  a  living 
even  —  as  a  farmer,  for  his  schemes  were 
always  impracticable  ones.  Starting  to  grow 
cocoa,  he  wanted  to  do  it  in  a  way  that  no- 
body else  had  ever  heard  of,  and  very  little 
grist  came  to  his  mill.  But  I  have  no  doubt 
his  improved  health  was  due  to  some  extent 
to  the  out-door  life  he  led  at  Vailima,  as  well 
as  the  natural  advantages  of  the  climate  it- 
self. It  has  been  said  that  he  took  his  ill 
health  cheerfully;  that  is  wrong,  it  was  his 
good  health  that  he  took  cheerfully.  When 
he  was  not  feeling  well,  Stevenson  was  a  man 
who  cheerfully  damned  the  whole  universe; 
but  such  occasions  were  rare  during  his  life 


STEVENSON  AT  HOME        49 

in  Samoa,  and  so  well  did  the  place  agree 
with  him  that  he  used  to  say  that  he  would 
start  a  sanitorium  for  consumptives  — 
though  I  do  not  think  he  ever  seriously  con- 
templated such  a  thing. 

Stevenson  rose  as  a  rule  at  six  o'clock, 
though  he  was  up,  often  enough,  as  early  as 
four,  writing  by  lamp  light.  He  wrote  at 
all  hours,  and  at  all  times.  Oftentimes  he 
would  come  down  town  on  "  Jack  "  and  tell 
me  he  had  got  "  stuck  "  in  some  passage  of 
a  story  and  was  out  in  search  of  an  inspira- 
tion. "  The  orange  is  squeezed  out,"  he 
would  say.  He  used  generally  to  wear  a 
little  white  yachting  cap  worth  about  twenty- 
five  cents.  As  he  was  very  thin  and  boyish 
in  appearance,  the  cap  suited  him.  I  never 
saw  him  in  a  stiff  shirt,  or  a  stand-up  collar 
in  my  life.  Up  at  Vailima  they  all  went 
about  in  their  bare  feet,  except  when  expect- 
ing guests,  and  generally  looked  about  half 
dressed.  When  Stevenson  came  into  Apia 
he  still  looked  only  half  dressed.      He  always 


So     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

came  down  with  a  soft  shirt  on  and  gener- 
ally white  flannel  trousers,  sometimes  with 
a  red  sash  tied  round  the  waist.  He  was 
very  careless  about  his  personal  adornment, 
just  "a  man  of  shirt  sleeves;"  and  his 
clothes  invariably  had  the  appearance  of  be- 
ing a  misfit,  because  of  his  extremely  slight 
frame. 

A  fine  judge  of  cookery,  Stevenson  was 
especially  careful  about  his  soups.  A  native 
boy  named  Ta'alolo,  who  was  an  especial 
favorite  with  Mrs.  Strong,  was  installed  as 
cook  to  the  household.  He  gave  every  sat- 
isfaction once  he  had  been  broken  in,  and  I 
believe  he  showed  a  particular  aptitude  in 
the  soup  line.  Ta'alolo  was  instrumental  in 
seci  ing  appointments  there  for  some  of  his 
friends,  most  of  them  Catholics,  and  included 
in  the  number  was  Sosimo,  to  whom  some 
interesting  references  may  be  found  in  the 
Vailima  Letters. 

Stevenson's  library  was  a  long  room,  con- 
taining, I  should  say,  not  more  than  five  hun- 


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STEVENSON  AT  HOME        51 

dred  volumes.  I  think  there  were  a  couple  of 
book  cases,  but  for  the  most  part  the  books 
were  arranged  on  plain  shelves.  I  remem- 
ber that  there  were  many  bound  volumes  of 
Longman's,  Blackwood's  and  other  maga- 
zines there,  many  of  them  no  doubt  contain- 
ing contributions  from  his  pen.  It  must  not 
be  forgotten,  however,  that  he  never  brought 
his  entire  library  to  Samoa.  A  good  many 
of  his  books  dealt  with  Scottish  history  and 
folk-lore  and  these  he  had  studied  from  cover 
to  cover. 

He  was  a  great  cigarette  smoker,  as  all  the 
world  knows.  The  whole  family  —  I  ex- 
cept Stevenson's  mother  —  worshiped  at  the 
shrine  of  "  My  Lady  Nicotine."  They  used 
to  consume  an  enormous  amount  of  cigarettes. 
"  Three  Castles  "  and  "  Capstan  "  were  the 
favorite  brands.  (Why  do  people  want  to 
know  the  favorite  brands  of  a  great  man's 
whisky  and  tobacco?)  Being  in  business  in 
Samoa,  I  imported  at  that  time  what  I  con- 
sidered to  be  some  of  the  best  American  to- 


52     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

bacco,  but  Stevenson  did  not  take  so  kindly 
to  it  as  he  did  to  most  things  American. 
"  Give  me  Wills',"  he  said,  "  he  suits  me 
best."  He  actually  used  to  import  a  quan- 
tity of  the  tobacco  himself,  so  as  to  make  sure 
that  he  did  not  run  out  of  it.  I  have  heard 
him  wonder  that  Wills',  an  English  firm, 
pleased  him  so  much  better  than  American 
firms  who  dealt  with  the  tobacco  at  its  home 
of  production. 

Next  to  their  consumption  of  the  fragrant 
weed,  the  family  astonished  me  by  the  great 
quantity  of  coffee  they  drank.  Here  is  an 
interesting  little  document  bearing  Mrs.  Ste- 
venson's signature : 


Dear  Mr.  Moors, — 

Please  ask  your  young  men  to  send  me  back  my 
coffee  tin.  I  return  the  packet  of  coffee  which  they 
sent  me  with  the  message  that  they  had  no  Samoan 
coffee.  If  you  will  kindly  let  me  know  when  to 
get  it,  I  will  not  trouble  them  further;  except  that 
I  must  ask  them  not  to  keep  Mr.  Hay  waiting  for 
things  until  the  finish  of  their  flirtations  with  native 
ladies.     He    hasn't    the    time    to    spare.     He    says 


STEVENSON  AT  HOME         53 

there  is  no  use  in  his  trying  to  get  anything  unless 
you  are  there,  which  makes  it  awkward  for  my  food 
supply.  I  hope  Mr.  Bahn  will  soon  be  up,  for  the 
tanks  are  not  set  up  yet,  and  the  old  one  is  leaking 
badly. 

Hoping  you  are  not  the  worse  for  your  good 
Samaritan  tramp, 

Believe  me  yours  truly, 

F.  V.  deG.  Stevenson. 

I  cannot  now  recall  what  particular  "  Good 
Samaritan  tramp  "  is  referred  to,  for  I  made 
a  good  many  tramps  up  to  Vailima  on  one 
matter  and  another,  or  rather,  I  usually  rode 
up.  There  was  no  bank  in  Apia  in  those 
days  —  good  gracious !  there's  none  there 
now  —  and  all  Stevenson's  financial  deal- 
ings were  done  through  me.  Thus  it  came 
about  that  hundreds  of  little  notes  came  to 
me  from  Stevenson,  or  his  wife,  or  Lloyd 
Osbourne,  asking  me  to  do  all  manner  of 
things  for  them.  Usually  it  was  Stevenson 
who  wrote  —  he  very  rarely  put  the  date  on 
his  letters  —  and  the  following  is  a  sample 
of  many  such  notes  I  received  from  him:  — 


54     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

Please  give  ...  5  in  gold  and  thirty  dollars 
currency.     I  am  drowned  out. 

Yours  ever, 

R.  L.  Stevenson. 

As  the  reader  may  surmise  from  the  ex- 
pression "  drowned  out,"  we  had  been  hav- 
ing very  heavy  weather,  in  proof  of  which  I 
quote  another  letter  :  — 

My   Dear  Moors, — 

I  hope  to  get  down  to-day,  but  the  weather  does 
not  yet  seem  bordered  up.  We  had  a  hell  of  a  time 
yesterday;  I  wish  the  man  who  invented  open  eaves 
had  been  wTith  us  —  I  would  have  burned  him  to 
see  to  read  by. 

Yours  ever, 

R.  L.  S. 

I  sincerely  hope  that  Mrs.  Grundy  will 
survive  the  shock  when  she  reads  of  her  Sun- 
day school  teacher  having  "  a  hell  of  a  time  " 
at  anything;  and  lest  she  believe  it  not  I  had 
better  follow  it  up  with  a  reference  to  "  hell's 
delight!  "     Why  not  have  the  whole  letter? 


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STEVENSON  AT  HOME         55 

My  dear  Moors, — 

By  earliest  occasion,  a  keg  of  beef. 

If  Mr.  Hay  has  forgotten  let  us  have  the  clock 
we  bought,  and  the  bill;  also  the  order  book  —  by 
present  messenger. 

Please  let  me  have  word  when  the  American  mail 
will  go  out,  and  I  shall  perhaps  come  down  this 
evening  myself  for  the  mail  coming  in. 

Please  tell  ...  the  flax  had  no  rope,  and 
that  I  will  see  to  it  that  the  fraud  is  not  repeated ; 
I  had  no  guess  that  I  was  being  made  a  catspaw  of. 

I  dare  say  you  may  have  heard  my  wife  has  been 
quite  sharply  ill:  which  decided  the  Auckland  trip 
effectually  in  the  negative. 

All  our  and  your  horses  were  out  last  night; 
there  was  hell's  delight,  &  lanterns  were  on  the 
green  till  a  late  hour ;  the  chestnut  &  another  of 
yours,  on  being  bored,  jumped  the  hedge  into  the 
old  place. 

Yours  ever, 

R.  L.  S. 

The  words  in  italics  are  words  underlined 
by  Stevenson  himself.  His  anxiety  to  get 
the  bill  rather  amuses  me  now,  as  I  look  back 
on  those  days  and  remember  what  manner  of 
man  he  was.  "  Bills  are  a  nuisance,"  he 
used  to  say;  "  never  mind  the  items,  what  is 


$6     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

the  total?  —  let's  have  that,  and  get  done 
with  it." 

In  reference  to  the  Auckland  trip,  which 
Mrs.  Stevenson's  illness  "  decided  effectually 
in  the  negative,"  I  may  explain  that  Steven- 
son had  arranged  to  go  to  Auckland  to  meet 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Chalmers,  the  New  Guinea  mis- 
sionary — "  a  man,"  he  wrote  in  one  of  his  let- 
ters to  Sidney  Colvin,  "  that  took  me  fairly 
by  storm  for  the  most  attractive,  simple, 
brave  and  interesting  man  in  the  whole 
Pacific." 

Stevenson  was  a  charming  host,  and  it  mat- 
tered not  whether  he  was  receiving  Europeans 
or  natives.  Everybody  felt  thoroughly  at 
home  at  Vailima.  There  were  invariably  sev- 
eral dinner  parties  there  when  a  British  or 
American  warship  put  into  port.  In  him  the 
navy  had  a  great  champion,  and  he  used  to 
have  a  printed  list  of  the  warships  that  had 
been  to  Apia  fixed  up  in  front  of  his  house, 
and  every  succeeding  ship  that  arrived  duly 
had  its  name  printed  there.     To  meet  the  offi- 


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STEVENSON  AT  HOME         57 

cers  from  these  ships  a  number  of  friends 
would  be  invited  to  Vailima,  for  the  afternoon 
and  evening.  While  dinner  was  being  pre- 
pared the  guests  would  sit  on  the  wide  veran- 
da, smoking  and  talking,  and  an  "  appetizer  " 
would  be  handed  round.  Those  were 
happy  times.  Stevenson  the  writer,  the 
talker,  the  charmer,  was  in  his  element. 
He  loved  to  have  friends  around  him. 
Over  the  dinner  plates  he  entertained  the 
company  with  his  anecdotes.  But  he  never 
monopolized  the  conversation;  he  was  as 
ready  a  listener  as  he  was  a  ready  talker. 
After  dinner,  music,  or  more  smoking  and 
more  talking  on  the  veranda  —  and  coffee 
par  excellence  —  coffee  the  sugar  in  which 
had  first  of  all  been  soaked  in  burnt  brandy! 
Mr.  Sewall,  the  United  States  Consul, 
was  a  frequent  visitor  at  the  house;  so,  later, 
was  his  successor,  Mr.  Mulligan.  Two 
other  great  friends  were  Judge  Ide,  later 
Governor  of  the  Philippines,  and  Mr.  Bazett 
Haggard,      the      Lands      Commissioner,      a 


58     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

brother  of  Rider  Haggard.  Mulligan  ad- 
mired Stevenson  almost  to  the  point  of  ad- 
oration, and  once  he  let  it  carry  him  so  far 
that  he  actually  stole  a  book  which  Steven- 
son had  autographed.  A  few  friends  had 
been  spending  the  evening  at  Vailima  and 
among  them  was  Jack  Buckland,  the  orig- 
inal of  Tommy  Haddon  in  The  Wrecker. 
He  was  a  passenger  on  the  Janet  Nicoll,  an 
iron  screw  steamer  of  about  six  hundred  tons, 
on  which  Stevenson  voyaged  from  Sydney, 
to  the  islands,  and  he  was  one  of  the  trio 
to  whom  Island  Nights'  Entertainments 
was  afterwards  dedicated,  the  other  two 
being  Mr.  Harry  Henderson,  part  owner  of 
the  vessel,  and  Ben  Hird,  the  supercargo. 
On  the  evening  in  question,  Stevenson  wrote 
something  in  one  of  his  books,  I  forget 
which,  and  presented  it  to  Buckland.  The 
latter  returned  to  Apia  in  company  with  Mr. 
Mulligan  and  my  son-in-law,  Mr.  I.  C. 
Hetherington.  Mulligan  took  Hethering- 
ton  into  his  confidence.     "  I  want  that  book," 


STEVENSON  AT  HOME         59 

he  said,  "  and  Buckland  doesn't  know  how 
to  appreciate  it.  He  will  only  be  losing  it, 
or  throwing  it  away,  so  I'm  going  to  steal 
it  to  save  him  from  himself.  I'll  tell  you 
how  I'll  steal  it.  We'll  go  to  the  Tivoli 
hotel,  where  he  is  staying,  and  while  we  are 
upstairs  in  his  room  I  want  you  to  ask  him 
to  go  down  and  have  a  drink  with  you,  a 
thing  he  won't  refuse.  I'll  excuse  myself 
from  going,  and  will  look  after  the  book. 
The  odds  are  he  won't  think  of  it  again!  " 

The  plan  worked  smoothly,  and  Mulligan 
got  the  book.  T  cannot  say  whether  Buck- 
land  missed  it  or  not,  but  I  know  that  Mul- 
ligan stuck  to  it.  I  never  saw  such  a  man 
for  collecting  the  autographs  of  one  indi- 
vidual in  my  life.  It  was  a  sort  of  mono- 
mania with  him.  To  him  R.  L.  S.  were 
sacred  initials,  the  words  Robert  Louis 
Stevenson  a  magic  spell.  Any  scrap  of 
paper  he  could  get  hold  of  bearing  either  in- 
itials or  name  was  planted  away  in  Mulli- 
gan's "  holy  of  holies."     Let  it  be  recorded 


60     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

that  if  Johnson  had  his  Boswell,  Stevenson 
had  his  Mulligan ! 

Poor  Jack  Buckland  —  happy-go-lucky, 
devil-may-care  Jack  Buckland  —  he  met  his 
death  in  a  terribly  tragic  manner  only  a  few 
years  ago,  being  blown  to  atoms  by  the  ex- 
plosion of  a  powder  magazine  on  Suwarrow 
Island.  And  Ben  Hird  is  dead  now,  too. 
Henderson  remains.  To  Buckland  his 
friend  Stevenson  was  just  a  man,  nothing 
more,  and  it  is  possible  that  he  did  fail  to 
set  a  proper  value  on  the  book  given  to  him 
by  the  "  man  of  letters  "  who  wrote  it,  just 
as  a  certain  Samoan  chief,  Amatua  by  name, 
failed  to  see  that  a  gold  pencil  case  pre- 
sented to  him  by  the  novelist  was  a  thing 
to  be  treasured  and  not  sold  to  Hethering- 
ton  at  a  price  ridiculously  below  its  value. 

As  to  the  upkeep  of  the  establishment  at 
Vailima,  I  believe  it  cost  Stevenson  some- 
thing like  six  thousand  five  hundred  dollars 
a  year.  Mrs.  Stevenson  and  Mrs.  Strong 
were  not  the  most  economical  women  in  the 


B       I  lire],  one  of  the  trio  to  whom  /  Entertainments  was 

dedicated.     Ilird  was  supercargo  on  the  steamer  Janet  Nicoll,  on 
which   St  1   from   Sydney   to  the  islands.      A   lonely 

grave  on  the  island  of  Funafuti  marks  hi    la  I  re  ting  pi 


STEVENSON  AT  HOME        61 

world.  The  parties  they  gave  were  elabo- 
rate affairs,  and  there  were  plenty  of  them. 
I  never  heard  of  Stevenson  producing  his 
flageolet  on  the  occasions  of  his  social  even- 
ings. My  friend  Carruthers,  who  had  him 
for  a  neighbor,  averred  positively  that  he 
played  so  dolefully  upon  the  instrument  as 
to  be  a  menace  to  one's  enjoyment  of  life. 
He  usually  performed  on  it  when  he  got 
"  stuck  "  in  the  middle  of  a  chapter  and  was 
searching  for  an  inspiration.  For  myself, 
I  cannot  truthfully  say  that  I  ever  heard  him 
playing  it,  though  once  or  twice  I  did  sur- 
prise him  with  it  in  his  hands  —  and  he 
dropped  it  as  if  it  were  something  red  hot. 
After  all,  it  is  difficult  enough  for  us  to 
amuse  ourselves  in  this  world  without  being 
called  upon  to  amuse  everybody  else  as  well. 
Stevenson,  as  I  have  before  remarked,  had 
his  shortcomings,  and  this  piping  on  the  flute 
was  one  of  them.  Finally  he  gave  it  up, 
and  I'm  not  sure  that  it  wasn't  because  Car- 
ruthers   threatened    him    with    an    action    at 


62     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

law.  But  apart  from  that,  we  all  grow 
wiser  as  we  grow  older. 

On  one  occasion  a  friend  of  his,  a  noted 
performer  on  the  flute  and  piccolo,  spent 
some  time  as  a  guest  at  Vailima,  and  during 
his  visit  Stevenson  prevailed  upon  him  to 
give  a  concert  in  the  town,  in  aid  of  some 
charity.  The  attendance,  however,  was  not 
large,  and  to  my  mind  the  entertainment  was 
not  particularly  entertaining.  Fluting  and 
piccoloing,  for  a  couple  of  hours  at  a  stretch, 
even  though  there  be  a  piano  accompani- 
ment, is  apt  to  get  on  one's  nerves,  no  mat- 
ter how  fine  an  artist  the  performer  may  be. 
I  told  Stevenson  so,  and  I  think  it  pained 
him. 

From  time  to  time  various  interesting  par- 
agraphs found  their  way  into  the  columns 
of  the  Samoa  Times  concerning  the  doings 
on  "the  hill,"  and  here  is  one  of  them:  — 

"  The  private  ball  given  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Steven- 
son at  their  residence,  Vailima,  on  Wednesday  even- 
ing was  a  most  successful  one.     The  weather  being 


STEVENSON  AT  HOME         63 

fine,  the  guests  derived  great  pleasure  from  their 
journey  to  and  fro,  independent  of  their  entertain- 
ment. About  forty  couples  engaged  in  dancing, 
which  was  kept  up  with  great  spirit  until  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  music  was  excep- 
tionally good,  which  partly  accounts  for  the  late 
hour  mentioned.  We  have  not  heard  of  a  single 
guest  who  did  not  enjoy  himself  or  herself,  and  it 
therefore  must  be  said  that  the  hospitable  enter- 
tainers cannot  be  otherwise  than  gratified  at  the  re- 
sult of  their  ball." 

They  were  a  great  dancing  people,  and 
Lloyd  Osbourne  no  doubt  remembers  the 
time  when  he  acted  as  one  of  the  joint  secre- 
taries of  the  return  ball  which  the  Bachelors 
gave  to  the  ladies  of  Apia. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SOME   OF    HIS    FRIENDS    IN   THE    SOUTH 

SEAS 

Stevenson's  friends  were  legion.  They 
lived  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  Many 
of  them  were  black,  or  brown,  in  color. 
Wherever  he  went  he  made  friends;  the 
genial  warmth  of  his  nature,  his  quick  sym- 
pathy, his  bright  eye,  seemed  to  draw  all 
men  to  him. 

Of  his  Samoan  friends,  he  had  a  great  af- 
fection for  the  Rev.  W.  E.  Clarke  and  his 
wife;  and  it  was  but  natural  that  when  the 
time  came  for  him  to  lay  down  his  pen  Mr. 
Clarke  should  perform  the  last  offices.  With 
the  missionaries,  Protestant  and  Catholic, 
he  was  always  on  the  best  of  terms,  though 
he  never  looked  upon  a  missionary  as  a  man 

64 


I 

-a 

1   ' 


- 

■'-•  a1  r>   •  "    ~   k   i  ,_   r  -—  —        =   -   _ 


a 


i'jjfjji 


1-33  ».2 


w«! 


_2 


c 

V 


C/3    c« 
S    to 


53 

u 

- 

c 

w 

«; 

C/3 

u 

--; 

5 

•  - 

*> 

u 

n 

rt 

c 

u 

. 

a; 

_c 

/. 

3 

o 


- 


SOUTH  SEA  FRIENDS  6s 

who  could  do  no  wrong.  More  than  once 
did  he  say  to  me  that  it  would  be  better  if 
these  good  people  paid  less  attention  to  poli- 
tics and  a  little  more  to  the  heathen;  and  I 
must  say  that  some  of  them  seemed  to  have 
a  mania  for  dabbling  in  politics. 

"  All  missions  are  not  equally  good,"  he 
wrote  to  Mr.  G.  A.  Sala  in  1893,  "  nor  a^ 
missionaries  either  wise  or  honest.  But  mis- 
sions in  the  South  Seas  generally  are  far  the 
most  pleasing  result  of  the  presence  of  white 
men;  and  those  in  Samoa  are  the  best  I  have 
ever  seen."  He  added  that  the  Bible  in 
Samoa  was  not  only  a  monument  of  excellent 
literature,  but  "  a  desirable  piece  of  typog- 
raphy." It  was  the  Rev.  J.  E.  Newell 
who,  at  a  gathering  at  Malua,  the  head- 
quarters of  the  London  Missionary  Society 
in  these  islands,  first  introduced  him  to  the 
natives  as  Tusitala,  and  from  that  time 
forward  Tusitala  was  his  name  among  the 
Samoans. 

Outside   Samoa   he  had   many   other  mis- 


66     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

sionary  friends,  including  Dr.  Chalmers 
and  Dr.  George  Brown,  two  of  the  finest 
veterans  in  missionary  work  that  the  Pacific 
has  record  of.  Chalmers  met  his  death  a 
few  years  ago  in  New  Guinea,  where  he  had 
labored  for  so  many  years.  He  was,  I  be- 
lieve, killed  by  the  natives  while  journeying 
up  the  Fly  River. 

"  You  can't  weary  me  of  that  fellow," 
Stevenson  wrote  of  Chalmers;  "he  is  as  big 
as  a  house,  and  far  bigger  than  any  church, 
where  no  man  warms  his  hands."  I  shall 
not  easily  forget  the  wonderful  impression 
that  Chalmers  made  on  him  when  they  first 
met  in  Apia.  He  came  to  me  in  an  ecstasy. 
"  Moors,"  said  he,  "  I  want  you  to  meet 
Dr.  Chalmers.  I'm  going  to  bring  him  up 
to  see  you.  He's  a  first  rate  fellow  for  a 
missionary,  and  he'll  please  you.  I  just 
had  a  drink  with  him  at  the  Tivoli  hotel, 
and  he  smoked  a  pipe  with  me  on  the  ve- 
randa !  " 

Well,    he   brought    him    up;    and   he   cer- 


SOUTH  SEA  FRIENDS  67 

tainly  did  please  me.  I  had  never  seen  or 
spoken  to  such  a  missionary  before.  Prece- 
dent and  conventionality  flew  before  him;  he 
just  did  what  he  liked  to  do,  and  what  he 
thought  was  good  for  him,  bodily  as  well 
as  spiritual.  I  have  heard  it  said  that 
the  way  to  reach  a  man's  heart  is  through 
his  stomach;  and  Chalmers  was  a  man  who 
believed  in  getting  at  a  man's  soul  through 
his  body.  He  gave  a  lecture  during  his 
stay  in  Apia  and  talked  to  the  local  mission- 
aries in  that  strain,  advising  them  to  look 
after  the  bodily  comfort  of  their  dusky  par- 
ishioners as  well  as  their  spiritual  comfort, 
and  incidentally  expressing  the  opinion  that 
they  were  interfering  too  much  with  the  na- 
tives by  trying  to  make  them  conform  to 
European  ideas.  That,  he  said,  would 
come  gradually  in  the  course  of  years,  and 
it  was  a  mistake  to  push  things  to  an  ex- 
treme. Chalmers  was,  indeed,  a  man  after 
Stevenson's  own  heart. 

It  is  interesting  also  to  recall  his  meeting 


68     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

with  Shirley  Baker,  the  much  defamed  Dic- 
tator of  Tonga,  a  man  with  a  history  as  full 
of  incident  and  romance  as  any  book  of  fic- 
tion. Baker  spent  Christmas  Day,  1890, 
at  my  house,  and  it  was  then  that  Stevenson 
met  him.  Let  me  quote  from  the  Vailima 
Letters: 

"  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  our  party 
at  table.  H.  J.  Moors  at  one  end  with  my 
wife,  I  at  the  other  with  Mrs.  M.,  between 
us  two  native  women,  Carruthers  the  lawyer, 
Moors'  two  shop  boys,  and  the  guests  of  the 
evening,  Shirley  Baker,  the  defamed  and 
much  accused  man  of  Tonga,  and  his  son 
with  the  artificial  joint  to  his  arm  —  where 
the  assassins  shot  him  in  shooting  at  his 
father.  Baker's  appearance  is  not  unlike 
John  Bull  on  a  cartoon;  he  is  highly  inter- 
esting to  speak  to,  as  I  had  expected;  I  found 
he  and  I  had  many  common  interests  and 
were  engaged  in  puzzling  over  many  of  the 
same  difficulties.     After  dinner  it  was  quite 


SOUTH  SEA  FRIENDS  69 

pretty  to  see  our  Christmas  party,  it  was  so 
easily  pleased  and  prettily  behaved." 

I  remember  that  on  this  occasion  my  sister 
recited  one  of  Stevenson's  own  poems 
Christmas  at  Sea,  and  he  was  delighted. 
On  the  same  occasion  Austin  Strong,  then 
a  bright  boy  of  thirteen,  recited  a  senti- 
mental piece  his  mother  had  taught  him. 
On  December  28th  Baker  was  a  guest  at 
Vailima,  and  of  this  visit  Stevenson  wrote 
to  Henry  James: 

"  Yesterday  we  had  a  visitor  —  Baker 
of  Tonga.  Heard  you  ever  of  him?  He 
is  a  great  man  here:  he  is  accused  of  theft, 
rape,  judicial  murder,  private  poisoning,  abor- 
tion, misappropriation  of  public  monies  — 
oddly  enough,  not  forgery,  nor  arson:  you 
would  be  amused  if  you  knew  how  thick  the 
accusations  fly  in  this  South  Sea  world." 

In  August,  1892,  the  Countess  of  Jersey, 
wife  of  the  then  Governor  of  New  South 
Wales,     visited    Apia,     together     with     her 


7o    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

brother,  Captain  Leigh,  and  her  daughter, 
Lady  Margaret  Villiers.  They  were  the 
guests  of  Mr.  Bazett  Haggard,  the  British 
land  commissioner,  who  was  one  of  Ste- 
venson's best  friends;  and  warm  friendship 
quickly  sprang  up  between  the  vice-regal 
party  and  the  Vailima  folk.  "  We  con- 
stantly met,"  Lady  Jersey  has  written  in  a 
magazine  article  dealing  with  her  experi- 
ences in  Samoa,  "  either  in  the  abode  of  our 
host,  Mr.  Bazett  Haggard,  or  in  Mr.  Steven- 
son's delightful  mountain  home,  and  passed 
many  happy  hours  in  riding,  walking  and 
conversation." 

On  August  23d  a  dinner  "  faa  Samoa  " 
was  given  by  King  Malietoa  Laupepa  to  the 
distinguished  visitors,  at  Mulinuu.  But 
Lady  Jersey  was  not  content  with  seeing  the 
acknowledged  King  of  Samoa  —  she  wanted 
also  to  visit  Mataafa,  the  rival  claimant  to  the 
throne.  To  do  this,  great  secrecy  was  nec- 
essary, as  it  would  never  do  for  it  to  become 
publicly  known   that  the   wife   of  the   Gov- 


The  late  Malieatoa  Laupepa,  in  Stevenson's  time  king  of  Samoa.  De- 
ported to  Jaluit  and  Africa  by  the  Germans,  he  was  brought  back 
and  installed  as  king  against  the  wish  of  the  Samoan  people,  who 
had  chosen  \l.itaafa 


SOUTH  SEA  FRIENDS  71 

ernor  of  New  South  Wales  had  visited  the 
"  rebel  king;  "  and  accordingly  it  was  as  his 
cousin  "  Amelia  Balfour  "  that  Mr.  Steven- 
son introduced  her  ladyship  to  Mataafa,  and 
it  was  as  "  Amelia  Balfour "  that  she  was 
presented  with  the  customary  bowl  of  ava. 
Despite  all  precautions,  however,  news  of 
the  visit  leaked  out,  and  so  seriously  was  it 
regarded  that  I  believe  the  British  Consul 
received  a  severe  "  rap  on  the  knuckles ' 
from  the  home  authorities  for  conniving  at 
it. 

Stevenson  made  a  number  of  friends  in 
Sydney,  among  them  Mr.  B.  R.  Wise,  K. 
C,  and  Dr.  Fairfax  Ross,  for  both  of  whom 
he  always  had  a  high  regard.  Mr.  A.  J. 
Daplyn,  a  well-known  Sydney  artist,  was  an- 
other valued  friend;  and  during  a  brief  so- 
journ in  Samoa  Mr.  Daplyn  painted  several 
interesting  pictures  of  Mr.  Stevenson  at 
work.  I  may  add  that,  with  Mr.  Graham 
Balfour,  Mr.  Daplyn  witnessed  the  novel- 
ist's last  will  and  testament. 


72     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

There  is  another  artist  with  whom  I  shall 
deal  a  little  more  fully.  I  refer  to  Count 
Nerli,  whose  portrait  of  Stevenson,  painted  in 
1892,  has  been  spoken  of  very  highly.  It 
was  purchased  in  New  Zealand  for  a  hundred 
guineas,  and  is  now,  I  believe,  in  England. 
Dr.  Japp,  who  desires  that  this  portrait  shall 
be  secured  for  the  city  of  Edinburgh,  has 
stated  in  his  book  that  Count  Nerli  visited 
Samoa  for  the  express  purpose  of  painting 
it.  This  was  not  so,  however,  as  the  fol- 
lowing paragraph,  taken  from  the  Samoa 
Times  of  August  27th,  1892,  will  show: 

"  By  the  Lubeck  last  trip  there  arrived  in  Samoa 
Signor  Nerli,  an  Italian  artist.  It  is  the  intention 
of  this  gentleman  to  reproduce,  principally  in  oils, 
some  of  our  magnificent  scenery,  and  also  to  make 
some  portraits  of  the  Samoan  natives,  which  he  pro- 
poses to  exhibit  at  the  Sydney  Exhibition.  Signor 
Nerli  informs  us  that  he  is  prepared  to  undertake 
private  commissions." 

This  gentleman  was  talking  to  a  friend 
in  the  street  one  day,  when  Stevenson  passed 
by.     "  There  goes  Mr.   Stevenson,  the  nov- 


SOUTH  SEA  FRIENDS  73 

elist,"  said  the  friend;  "  why  don't  you  paint 
his  portrait?  "  And  there  and  then  the  art- 
ist introduced  himself,  with  the  result  that 
for  some  time  after  he  was  a  constant  vis- 
itor  at  Vailima;  and  Stevenson,  whilst  sit- 
ting for  his  portrait,  put  his  reflections  on 
"  Mister  Nerli  "  into  verse.  The  portrait 
was  completed  in  October,  and  the  local 
paper  gave  this  account  of  it: 

"  The  picture  is  about  half  life  size.  We  must 
not  only  congratulate  the  artist  on  the  speaking  like- 
ness which  he  has  produced,  but  also  Mr.  Stevenson 
himself  on  obtaining  that  which  he  cannot  but  ac- 
knowledge is  in  every  way  a  faithful  picture,  and 
one  that  all  his  friends  must  admit  is  an  exceedingly 
happy  combination  of  truth  in  expression  and  the 
artistic  in  execution." 

Why  Stevenson  did  not  purchase  the  por- 
trait I  cannot  say. 

There  is  one  other  name  I  must  mention 
among  the  friends  whose  acquaintance  Ste- 
venson made  in  the  South  Seas;  I  refer  to  Sir 
George  Grey,  whom  he  met  in  New  Zea- 
land at  the  time  when  the  question   of  the 


74     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

annexation    of   Samoa  was   being    discussed. 

Sir    George,    I    have  been    informed,    was 

largely   influenced   by  the    views    Stevenson 
put  forth. 


CHAPTER  VII 

V 

THE   TALKER 

I  have  never  chatted  with  anyone  with  so 
much  enjoyment  as  when  I  was  talking  to 
Stevenson,  and  my  friend  Carruthers  has 
confirmed  this  experience.  Why  was  it?  I 
cannot  do  better  than  give  Carruthers's  ex- 
planation, for  I  think  it  sums  it  up  concisely 
and  correctly. 

"  There  was  a  magnetic  personality  about 
Stevenson  which  seemed  to  draw  you  to  him 
irresistibly,  to  place  you  at  once  on  easy  and 
friendly  terms  with  him,  and  you  could  talk 
to  him  as  you  could  to  no  other  man.  His 
apparently  deep  sympathy  and  entirely  con- 
fidential attitude  was  such  that  you  had  no 
hesitation  in  frankly  disclosing  all  your  pri- 
vate concerns,  strong  in  the  faith  that  come 

75 


76     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

what  would,  he  would  never  betray  your 
hopes,  fears  or  projects.  He  had  a  wonder- 
ful knack  of  drawing  conversation  out  of  a 
man;  his  aptitude  for  making  questions  was 
really  remarkable,  and  no  question  from  him 
ever  seemed  to  be  impertinent.  The  light  in 
his  eye  was  that  of  sympathetic  companion- 
ship; the  interest  he  showed  in  you  was  al- 
ways the  interest  of  a  friend.  For  myself, 
I  can  say  truthfully  that  I  never  met  a  man 
to  whom  I  could  talk  as  well;  one  seemed  to 
grow  positively  eloquent  when  speaking  to 
him." 

Who  shall  explain  it  further?  What  was 
that  peculiar  attribute  in  Stevenson  that  had 
this  strange  effect?  You  spoke  to  him  in 
your  very  best  manner  without  restraint  and 
without  any  apparent  effort;  ready  and  ap- 
propriate words  and  phrases  came  flowing  to 
your  aid.  Stevenson  was  a  born  companion 
and  therein  lay  the  secret.  Thoroughly  at 
his  own  ease,  he  made  you  feel  quite  at  home, 
and  at  his  house  a  stranger  would  feel  dom- 


THE  TALKER  77 

idled  within  a  few  minutes.  He  would  offer 
you  a  cigarette ;  he  would  bid  you  make  your- 
self comfortable  in  an  easy  chair.  u  Will 
you  drink  something?  —  and  shall  it  be  a 
lemon  drink,  or  something  stronger?"  It 
was  wonderful  how  quickly  he  got  on  famil- 
iar terms  with  a  stranger.  And  then  he 
would  draw  his  stranger  out,  question  by  ques- 
tion, until  he  had  his  whole  history. 

Nevertheless,  he  was  not  a  good  public 
speaker.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  at  Apia 
he  gave  a  small  dinner  at  the  Tivoli  hotel 
in  honor  of  Captain  Reid,  of  the  schooner 
Equator,  and  Paul  Leonard,  of  Marakei, 
who  had  been  a  fellow  passenger.  Steven- 
son made  a  "  speech  "  if  one  may  call  it  such. 
He  rose  to  no  flights  —  the  occasion,  I  ad- 
mit, did  not  demand  it  —  and  there  was  no 
poetry  in  it.  I  am  wrong  there,  for  there 
was  poetry  in  it.  He  unfolded  a  scrap  of 
paper  —  which  he  afterwards  handed  to  the 
worthy  captain  —  and  read  a  few  lines  of 
his  own  composition,  which  he  had  written 


78     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

specially.  The  poetry  was  no  better  than, 
the  speech;  but  we  had  a  jolly  time,  and  all 
of  us,  I  am  afraid  —  Stevenson  not  excepted 
—  looked  intently  on  the  wine  within  the 
glass. 

Not  long  after  this  he  gave  a  lecture  in 
the  town,  dealing  with  his  visit  to  the  Mar- 
quesas, a  small  charge  being  made  in  aid  of 
some  charitable  object.  It  was  more  a  little 
"  talk  "  than  anything  else.  He  appeared 
in  white  flannel,  and  had  a  few  notes  to 
which  he  seldom  referred,  for  his  memory 
was  wonderful.  His  voice  was  clear  and 
distinct,  but  lacked  volume.  It  was  again 
made  abundantly  clear  that  he  was  not  an 
eloquent  public  speaker;  but  he  was  interest- 
ing, entertaining,  informative. 

Somehow,  in  conversation  he  seemed  a  dif- 
ferent man,  remarkably  fluent,  never  at  a 
loss  for  word  or  setting.  Sometimes  he 
amused  me  by  getting  quite  excited  over  mat- 
ters of  the  most  trivial  moment.  Some  small 
event  among  the  natives,  some  small  domes- 


THE  TALKER  79 

tic  affair,  or  some  amusing  scandal,  would 
crop  up,  and  the  whole  family  would  discuss 
it  with  animation  and  become,  indeed,  theat- 
rical over  it.  Stevenson  would  take  rapid 
strides  and  throw  his  arms  about,  as  if  per- 
forming a  part,  and  the  excitement  would 
flush  his  face  and  paint  his  eyes  bright. 
These  were  the  occasions  when  the  man  was 
eloquent,  but  it  was  the  eloquence  of  the 
actor,  shown  in  the  looks  as  much  as  in  the 
words.  His  face  carried  absolute  conviction; 
and  when  he  was  burning  with  indignation 
the  fire  in  his  eye  showed  it  more  clearly  than 
any  words  could  do.  Henley  was  right;  he 
was  a  born  actor;  and  it  seems  strange  that 
his  efforts  as  a  dramatist  should  have  proved 
a  dismal  failure. 

While  he  was  staying  at  my  house,  we 
exchanged  endless  yarns,  generally  in  the 
evenings,  as  we  sat  in  our  pajamas  on  the 
balcony.  Some  of  his  phrases  were  inimita- 
ble, many  of  them  quaint.  Once  he  told  of 
"  a   fellow  who  would  stay  long  enough  to 


8o    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

take  soup  with  the  devil,  and  then  leave  the 
table  before  the  other  courses  came  on." 
When  anything  good  came  his  way,  he  used 
to  tell,  it  was  "  better  than  a  dig  in  the  eye 
with  a  sharp  stick." 

He  often  spoke  of  his  parents,  always  in 
a  loving  way;  and  he  told  me  of  the  differ- 
ence that  had  arisen  between  himself  and  his 
father  as  to  his  vocation  in  life.  He  was 
wonderfully  proud  of  the  achievements  of  his 
ancestors  in  the  way  of  light-house  building, 
and  would  never  tire  telling  you  about  them. 
Likewise,  he  was  well  aware  that  he  had 
done  his  share  towards  upholding  the  honor 
of  the  family. 

We  were  discussing  the  career  of  Napo- 
leon, and  more  particularly  the  battle  of 
Waterloo,  one  day,  when  he  told  me  that  he 
had  been  over  the  field  and  had  carefully  in- 
spected it.  He  had  spent  many  days  in  the 
vicinity,  studying  the  preliminary  engage- 
ments and  manoeuvers,  with  a  view  to  writing 
a    description    of   the   battle    from    his    own 


THE  TALKER  81 

standpoint.  He  was  an  authority  on  Water- 
loo, and  I  enjoyed  listening  to  him  on  the  sub- 
ject. As  Henry  James  says,  "  If  things  had 
gone  differently  with  him  he  might  have  been 
an  historian  of  great  campaigns  —  a  great 
painter  of  battle  pieces." 

And  just  here  I  am  reminded  of  an  experi- 
ence we  had  with  a  Napoleonic  Consul  in 
Apia,  Colonel  de  Coetlogon.  One  Sunday 
morning,  while  Stevenson  and  myself,  bare- 
foot and  in  pajamas,  were  discussing  the  vari- 
ous local  celebrities,  my  friend  suddenly 
jumped  up  and  announced  that  he  had  neg- 
lected a  bounden  duty.  Here  he  had  been 
in  Apia  for  some  considerable  time  and  had 
not  yet  called  on  Her  Brittanic  Majesty's 
representative !  Every  Britisher  of  mark 
should  attend  to  such  a  duty  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment!  I  must  introduce  him 
without  one  moment's  further  delay! 
"  Come  along,  Moors,"  said  he,  "  let's  get 
it  off  our  mind!  " 

I  informed  him  that  Colonel  de  Coetlogon 


82     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

was  himself  a  new  man  in  the  place  —  he 
had  been  in  Apia  but  a  little  while  —  and  I 
had  not  yet  met  him.  People  who  had  met 
him  had  mostly  declared  him  to  be  an  ex- 
clusive, crusty  old  fellow,  full  of  pomposity. 
I  was  therefore  very  loth  to  go  until  the  new 
arrival  had  simmered  down  somewhat.  It 
was  rumored  that  he  had  been  for  years 
governor  of  some  great  jail  in  Britain,  and 
people  remarked  that  he  treated  many  of  his 
callers  as  ticket-of-leave  men  who  had  come 
in  to  report  themselves. 

But  Stevenson,  feeling  very  sure  of  his 
powers  to  charm  this  Gorgon,  would  take  no 
warning,  but  shouted  gaily,  "  Come  on, 
Moors !  I'll  attend  to  his  case  —  he'll  wel- 
come us  all  right."  I  pointed  out  his  attire 
and  his  lack  of  shoes;  and,  with  a  sigh,  he 
compromised  so  far  as  to  put  on  a  clean  shirt 
and  a  pair  of  trousers  and  shoes,  but  my  best 
efforts  would  not  induce  him  to  wear  a  coat. 
In  the  rig  he  wore,  and  under  his  little  yacht- 


THE  TALKER  83 

ing  cap,  he  positively  looked  no  more  than 
twenty  or  twenty-five  years  of  age.  He 
bubbled  with  enthusiasm  over  everything 
new  and  strange  that  came  within  his  view 
as  we  passed  along  the  road  to  Matautu, 
where  de  Coetlogon  lived.  From  the  be- 
ginning I  doubted  if  we  would  receive  any- 
thing like  an  effusive  welcome,  and  I  took 
care  to  impart  my  fears  to  my  friend;  but 
he  only  laughed.  Particularly  did  I  point 
out  that  this  was  Sunday,  and  that  we  should 
choose  another  day  for  our  visit.  He  still 
laughed. 

With  pride  and  joy  he  threw  open  the 
consular  gate  and  strode  manfully  across  the 
lawn,  I  following  close  behind.  A  tall,  sol- 
dierly person,  with  white  mustachios  and 
close  cropped  hair,  was  sitting  peacefully  on 
the  veranda.  He  made  no  attempt  to  rise 
and  welcome  us;  a  whiskey  and  soda  had  just 
then  his  rapt  attention.  We  ascended  the 
steps;  the  statue  in  the  chair  merely  regarded 


84     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

us;  we  might  as  well  have  been  a  couple  of 
distressed  prisoners  coming  to  pray  for  some 
amelioration. 

Stevenson  would  have  embraced  this  cold 
representative  of  his  country's  greatness,  but 
the  chill  restrained  him.  "  Good  morning, 
sir." 

A  grunt.     ''Well,  what  do  you  want?" 
"  My    name    is    Stevenson.     I    am    well 
known  in  Britain  by  my  works  —  in  fact,  I 
am  a  novelist.     This  is  Mr.  Moors." 
"Well,  what  do  you  want?" 
No   friendly   hand   was   stretched   out   to 
greet  us;  we  noted  a  face  as  hard  as  stone,  as 
uncompromising  and  as  unsympathetic  as  a 
brick  wall.     Stevenson  stood  there  as  one  pet- 
rified; I  was  quite  appalled.     My  friend  had 
not  counted  on  such  a  start;  there  was  no 
seam  or  crevice  in  which  he  might  momenta- 
rily locate  to  reconnoiter  before  he  should  at- 
tack again.     The  consul's  brow  was  sad  to 
look  upon;  he  had  not  even  risen  civilly  to 
hear  us. 


THE  TALKER  85 

11  We  have  come,  sir,  to  pay  our  respects." 

"  If  you  have  business  and  desire  to  see 
me,  I  will  listen  to  you  on  week  days  and  in 
my  office  at  the  proper  time.  Good  morn- 
ing." 

Stevenson  quite  lost  the  power  of  speech, 
and  looked  appealingly  at  me.  I  cannot  re- 
member exactly  what  I  said,  but  I  know  that 
I  endeavored  to  depict  to  the  consul  the  worth 
and  honesty  of  my  companion. 

In  return  came  this:  "I  don't  care  who 
you  are  —  either  of  you!  If  you  have  any 
business  at  this  consulate,  come  and  state  it 
at  the  proper  time." 

Without  more  than  a  profound  bow,  Ste- 
venson turned  and  made  his  way  out  into 
the  road  again,  I  having  preceded  him. 
"By  heavens,  Moors,  you  were  right! 
What  a  beast !  What  a  damned  —  well,  I 
suppose  he  has  a  right  to  choose  his  own  Sun- 
day morning  company.  I  had  thought  that 
I  was  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  letters  of 
the  day,  but  this  fellow  differs.     What  a  sit- 


86     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

uation  for  a  man  of  my  supposed  eminence  to 
find  himself  in !  People  will  differ  in  their 
opinions,  won't  they?"  And  he  burst  out 
into  a  merry  laugh. 

Though  this  was  doubtless  a  bitter  pill  for 
Stevenson  to  swallow,  a  sad  knock  to  his  van- 
ity —  which  once  in  a  while  unconsciously 
showed  out  —  I  do  not  think  he  ever  bore 
the  man  a  grudge,  though  I  doubt  if  he  ever 
called  again  at  the  British  consulate  while 
de  Coetlogon  remained  there.  Mr.  Graham 
Balfour  says  that  Stevenson  became  very 
friendly  with  this  gentleman,  but  I  think  this 
must  be  a  mistake,  for  I  never  heard  of  any 
person  in  Apia  becoming  friendly  with  him. 
The  extreme  ridiculousness  of  the  whole  af- 
fair was,  when  we  thought  of  it  afterwards, 
most  refreshing  to  us;  and  it  was  a  treat  to 
hear  Stevenson  recounting  in  his  own  inimita- 
ble way  how  for  once  his  suave  and  insinu- 
ating manner  had  failed. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

BOOKS    AND    COLLABORATION 

Stevenson  told  me  that  when  he  set  about 
writing  a  story  he  had  to  do  it  as  a  carpenter 
sets  about  a  building.  First  of  all,  he  would 
map  out  a  plan,  with  a  sketch  of  the  plot  and 
main  incidents,  and  lay  out  the  chapters. 
Then,  when  he  was  satisfied  that  he  had  made 
a  solid  foundation,  he  would  proceed  with 
the  superstructure.  Such  side  issues  as  sug- 
gested themselves  he  would  develop  as  he 
went  on.  He  would  often  depart  from  his 
original  plans;  the  unfolding  of  the  various 
incidents  would  quite  spontaneously  lead  up 
to  new  and  unexpected  situations.  No  man, 
he  said,  could  faithfully  adhere  to  his  orig- 
inal intentions  in  the  writing  of  a  work  of 
fiction.     As    for   himself,    new    ideas    would 

87 


88     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

keep  crowding  on  him  as  he  wrote,  and  new 
developments  would  spring  up  as  it  were  of 
their  own  accord,  so  that  sometimes  it  seemed 
that  instead  of  being  the  real  author  of  the 
story  he  was  but  the  puppet  of  some  unseen 
force  at  his  elbow,  some  microbe  in  his  brain. 
It  was  his  usual  practice  to  keep  two  or 
three  books  going  at  the  same  time,  so  when 
he  got  tired  of  working  on  one  he  found  it 
something  in  the  nature  of  a  relaxation  to 
turn  to  another.  Often  have  I  heard  him 
wonder  whether  any  of  his  books  would  live. 
"  I  think  Kidnapped  will,  anyway,"  he  said. 
He  seemed  very  anxious  to  leave  something 
permanent  on  the  scroll  of  literature;  and  I 
know  that  at  that  time  he  believed  Kid- 
napped to  be  the  best  book  he  had  written, 
though  I  have  since  heard  that  he  regarded 
Weir  of  Hermiston  as  his  finest  effort. 
It  is  a  thousand  pities  that  he  did  not  live  to 
complete  that  work.  I  can,  however,  only 
speak  of  what  he  told  me.  "  I  think,"  said 
he,  "  that  if  I  had  written  nothing  more  than 


BOOKS  AND  COLLABORATION      89 

Kidnapped  and   Thrawn  Janet,  I  would  be 
worthy  of  a  place  among  men  of  letters." 

To  some  it  may  seem  surprising  that  Ste- 
venson   did   not   think   very    highly    of   Dr. 
Jekyll  and  Mr.  Hyde,  that  "  strange  case  " 
which  made  him  famous.     And,  yet  Dr.  Japp 
says  that  the  fault  of  that  story  is  that  "  we 
seem  to  hear  Stevenson  chuckling  to  himself, 
1  Ah,  now  won't  they  all  say  at  last  how  clever 
I   ami'"     To  be   sure,   he   felt   greatly   in- 
debted to  it  for  having  brought  him  fame,  but 
he  was  unable  to  understand  why.     Within 
a  week's  time  he  was  regretting  having  pub- 
lished the  book  at  a  shilling  a  copy:  it  is  un- 
necessary to  state  what  the   feelings  of  the 
publisher  were.     Within  a  fortnight  the  sales 
in   England   were   enormous;   and  when   the 
book  was  pirated  in  the  United   States  the 
printing  press  for  a  time  was  hardly  able  to 
keep   up    with    the    demand.     Not    a    penny 
reached  him  on  account  of  it  from  the  States; 
but  it  made  his  reputation  there,  and  that  spelt 
money.     It  was,  indeed,  from  the  States  that 


9o     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

in  the  future  he  drew  most  of  his  money. 
He  had  come  there  to  stay ;  the  public  wanted 
as  much  as  and  more  than  it  could  get  from 
this  man. 

Public  opinion  was  to  Stevenson  a  thing  to 
conjure  with.     He  could  not  understand  why 
it  should  bow  down  before  a  god  he  did  not 
worship,   or  why  it  refused  to  estimate  his 
idols   at  the   value   he  himself   placed  upon 
them.     He   was   peculiarly   sensitive   to   this 
same  Public  Opinion.     Until  such  time  as  a 
new  book  of  his  was  published  and  he  knew 
how  it  had  been  received  by  the  public,  he 
was  in  just  that  condition  of  "  divine  unrest " 
from   which,    he   has    told   us,    spring    alike 
highest   achievement   and   miserable    failure. 
A  flattering  notice  was  a  bracing  tonic;  a  bad 
one  he  almost  wept  over,  and  though  he  often 
assured  me  that  he  was  most  patient  under 
fair  criticism,  I  have  heard  him  argue  stoutly 
against    the    opinions    of    his    reviewers  — 
though  he  was  never  acrimonious. 

On  one  occasion  he  came  to  me,  flourishing 


BOOKS  AND  COLLABORATION      91 

a  paper  wildly  in  the  air.  "  Moors,"  he  ex- 
claimed, "  here  is  news  for  you,  and  the  best 
of  news  for  me!  " 

I  thought  he  had  suddenly  inherited  a  for- 
tune, or  that  something  of  an  extreme  value 
had  fallen  i-n  his  way.  "  What  in  heaven's 
name  is  it?  "  I  asked. 

"  This,  my  friend.  For  years  a  certain 
critic  has  practically  damned  my  works  — 
said  there  was  nothing  really  in  them  —  and 
now  this  person,  whose  ability  I  have  always 
admired  despite  the  fact  that  I  have  suffered, 
has  declared:  '  Stevenson  has  at  last  produced 
one  of  the  best  books  of  the  season,  and  the 
claim  of  his  friends  seems  fully  justified,  for 
this  work  is  full  of  genius.'  "  His  face  was 
all  aglow  with  feverish  excitement. 

"  Who  is  this  wonderful  critic,  Stevenson, 
whose  praise  you  so  enjoy?  And  what  bit- 
ter things  has  he  said  of  you  before?  " 

"  We  will  drop  the  severe  things,  Moors. 
You  would  never  guess,  if  I  gave  you  all  the 
morning,  who  it  is  who  has  at  last  admitted 


92     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

me  to  be  in  the  front  rank  of  my  profession. 
It  is  Mrs.  Oliphant,  my  dear  sir  —  Mrs.  Oli- 
phant! " 

I  think  it  was  a  review  of  The  Master  of 
Ballantrae  that  he  referred  to. 

With  Mr.  Carruthers  I  shared  the  privi- 
lege of  being  allowed  to  peruse  some  of  Ste- 
venson's work  in  the  typewritten  manuscript 
before  it  was  sent  on  to  his  publishers. 
Oftentimes  we  sat  on  rocking  chairs  on  my 
balcony,  or  lolled  lazily  on  the  native  mats, 
discussing  some  story  he  was  writing.  Par- 
ticularly well  do  I  remember  discussing  the 
storm  scene  in  The  Wrecker  written  in 
collaboration  with  Lloyd  Osbourne.  The 
latter,  I  believe,  has  claimed  the  credit  of 
doing  the  scene  —  that  wild  trip  to  the 
island  —  to  my  mind  the  most  valuable  chap- 
ter in  the  book.  However  that  may  be,  I 
know  that  Stevenson  went  over  the  whole 
thing  very  carefully  with  me,  and  we  discussed 
every  detail  from  beginning  to  end.  He 
himself  had  a  good  knowledge  of  conditions 


BOOKS  AND  COLLABORATION      93 

at  sea,  in  calm  or  storm;  and,  speaking  as 
one  who  has  been  shipwrecked  four  times, 
perhaps  I  may  claim  to  know  something  of 
the  subject.  He  told  me  he  was  working  a 
storm  scene  into  a  story  and  later  on  he  would 
ask  me  to  look  over  it  carefully,  as  he  was 
anxious  to  have  the  attendant  events  in  their 
proper  sequence.  It  may  have  been  that  he 
merely  wanted  to  revise  what  Lloyd  Os- 
bourne  had  written,  though  he  certainly  never 
said  so.  The  manuscript  of  The  Wrecker 
was  sent  to  me,  and  after  reading  it  I  passed 
it  on  to  Mr.  Carruthers. 

The  story  as  a  whole  impressed  me  as  dis- 
appointing and  unconvincing;  it  did  not  seem 
likely  that  it  would  enhance  his  reputation 
and  I  so  informed  him.  I  suggested  the  re- 
writing of  what  seemed  to  me  many  weak 
passages.  He  made  some  excuse  for  not  car- 
rying out  my  suggestion.  I  will  say  this, 
however,  that  he  liked  to  get  a  new  book  off 
his  hands  as  soon  as  possible,  and  he  hated 
to  discover  any  flaw  that  would  necessitate 


94    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

rewriting.  When  a  man  has  written  and  re- 
written a  story  three  or  four  times,  as  had 
probably  been  done  in  this  case,  he  is  nat- 
urally disinclined  to  go  all  over  it  again  — 
and  there  were  limits  even  to  the  patience  of 
the  careful  and  painstaking  Stevenson! 

As  a  rule,  he  appeared  to  value  the  criti- 
cisms he  obtained  from  Carruthers  and  my- 
self, but  I  candidly  admit  that  I  do  not 
remember  that  he  ever  made  any  material 
alterations  to  please  either  of  us.  As  for 
Carruthers's  opinion  of  The  Wrecker,  he 
pronounced  the  opening  chapters  coarse  and 
the  whole  book  below  Stevenson's  standard. 
I  have  said  I  was  disappointed  with  The 
Wrecker.  I  was  still  more  disappointed 
with  The  Wrong  Box.  Stevenson  saw  the 
book  lying  on  a  table  in  my  drawing-room 
one  day.  "  Hullo !  The  Wrong  Box?  "  he 
remarked. 

"  Yes,"  I  said,  expressing  myself  no 
further. 

In  a  little  while  he  picked  it  up  again,  as 


BOOKS  AND  COLLABORATIOxN      95 

if  he  had  forgotten  having  done  so  before. 
"  I  see  you  have  The  Wrong  Box  here," 
he  said. 

"  Yes,"  I  said  again,  sincerely  hoping  that 
he  would  not  ask  my  opinion  of  it.  He  did 
not  —  then;  but  later  on  he  asked  me  point 
blank  how  I  liked  it.  My  answer  disap- 
pointed him  —  not  so  much,  he  said,  on  his 
account  as  on  that  of  Lloyd  Osbourne. 

It  was  with  something  of  defiance  in  his 
face  that  he  came  to  me  afterwards  with  a 
newspaper  containing  a  "  good  notice  "  of  the 
book,  about  the  only  one  I  ever  saw.  "  I'm 
glad,  Moors,"  he  said,  "  for  Lloyd's  sake. 
It's  Lloyd's  book,  you  know." 

Then  there  was  The  Dynamiter,  writ- 
ten in  conjunction  with  his  wife.  In  some 
parts  there  was  really  brilliant  work,  accord- 
ing to  my  lights;  in  other  parts  it  was  very 
weak,  both  in  plot  construction  and  writing. 
Stevenson  admitted  that  the  story  was  far 
from  what  it  ought  to  have  been,  but  he  did 
not  throw  any  blame  on  his  wife,  though  I 


96     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

had  no  doubt  she  was  responsible  for  the  milk 
and  water  passages.  I  confess  that  I  was  un- 
able to  understand  how  it  was  that  a  man  with 
his  reputation  to  keep  up  could  allow  those 
weak  passages  to  pass  through  his  hands 
without  any  apparent  attempt  to  strengthen 
or  recast  them;  but  afterwards,  when  I  knew 
the  whole  family  better,  I  understood.  We 
were  discussing  the  book,  when  Mrs.  Ste- 
venson herself  appeared  on  the  scene;  and 
I  am  sadly  afraid  that  the  lady  overheard 
some  of  the  uncharitable  remarks  I  had  been 
making,  for  at  this  time  they  were  staying  at 
my  house.  '  At  all  events,  she  lectured  me 
for  exciting  her  husband,  and  insisted  on  his 
going  to  bed  forthwith. 

Once  he  asked  me  how  I  liked  Treasure 
Island,  and  I  told  him  I  considered  it  a 
splendid  story,  though  I  did  not  think  the 
conclusion  was  of  the  same  high  standard  as 
the  rest  of  the  book.  "  Moors,"  he  said,  "  if 
you  knew  how  hard-up  I  was  at  that  time 
and  how  I  had  to  hurry  to  finish  the  story, 


BOOKS  AND  COLLABORATION      97 

you  would  excuse  those  last  chapters.  I  agree 
with  you,  and  many  of  my  friends  take  the 
same  view." 

The  Bottle  Imp  had  the  unique  dis- 
tinction of  being  read  by  the  Samoan  before 
it  was  printed  in  English.  It  began  publica- 
tion in  the  O  le  Sulu  O  Samoa,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
in  May,  1891.  This  little  paper,  printed  in 
Samoan,  was  edited,  and  is  still  edited,  by 
the  Rev.  J.  E.  Newell, —  whom  I  have  al- 
ready mentioned  —  at  Malua,  some  twelve 
miles  from  Apia.  At  this  place  there  is  a 
training  school  for  native  teachers,  in  con- 
nection with  the  L.  M.  S.  The  paper  had 
a  circulation  of  eleven  hundred,  and  the 
story  no  doubt  penetrated  into  most  Samoan 
homes.  Still,  in  Mr.  Newell's  own  words, 
"it  caused  no  great  sensation  —  not  nearly 
the  sensation  that  the  present  publication  of 
the  Arabian  Nights  is  causing,  but  a  great 
many  used  to  ask  if  it  were  true,  for  in  some 
respects   it   is   similar   to    certain    Polynesian 


98     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

fables,  all  of  which  the  islanders  believe  to 
be  founded  on  fact." 

It  was  at  my  house  that  Mr.  Newell  first 
met  Stevenson,  and  there  it  was  that  the 
novelist  stated  that  he  had  written,  or  that 
he  proposed  to  write,  this  story  for  the  na- 
tives. "  How  would  you  like  to  publish  it  in 
your  paper?"  he  asked  of  the  missionary. 

"  I  should  be  delighted,  if  it  is  suitable, 
and  provided  it  lends  itself  to  translation." 

Whereupon  Stevenson  unfolded  the  story. 
It  was  a  treat.  I  doubt  if  he  was  surpassed 
by  Dickens  in  the  success  with  which  he  could 
tell  a  story  by  word  of  mouth  as  well  as  by 
his  pen.  Speaking  of  the  incident  recently, 
Mr.  Newell  remarked,  "  I  never  had  such  an 
entertaining  hour  in  all  my  life."  When  the 
manuscript  was  afterwards  handed  to  him  he 
found  that  the  work  of  translation  was  an 
easy  task;  and  in  the  April  number  of  the 
Sulu,  in  the  year  mentioned,  it  was  announced 
that  in  the  next  issue  a  story  by  "  Tusitala  O 
Seteveni  "   (the  writer  of  tales,  Mr.  Steven- 


0    LE    FAGU    AITU. 

O  le  tala  lenei  a  le  Tusitala. 


0  LE  si 

i  HavttU.  Aufi  .1 
tasi  ona  tc'a  lea  ti 
i  inea  ua  inaua,  a  ■ 
oo  lea  ia  i"  ia  le  m 
Tf.iVO.T-"  A  e  i 

].'•  lagutn.-  " 
le  im.i  i-  lo  i 
"ii. i  fiiaiiinl  ni  I. 
ii, i  i  ill  I"  lasi  'ai 
c  dti  le  lii^iitii  :. 
1"  n  mimii  nil      [ 

'1 1  ;,\  e.—   "  ^     ' 
fllliluvi  lii\e 

E    I- .  !(.'!■  fl'     ill    t"   I 
U    "    It     I!   I  .1     l< 

!.i\  .1   i  1  :i    I. 

I   i-   l..r:ili-   ,\  I 

fan.     Iii  na  i'I'ii 


0  lb  Mat.m  ii    I. 

I'a  i  ai  i  1"  atu  Havaii  1"  tasi  tagata,  ou  to.  fan 
igoo  in  ir  ia  o  Teavo  ;  ana  na  e  silatio  o  ola  pea  in, 
olemea  leaouto  nana  ai  t«>nn  igoa  moni.  A  " 
le  nuii  na  fanau  ai  o  in  ua  Intalata  i  Honannau  n 
]c  moo  foi  lea  ua  tcuteu  ai  ivi  "  Tenvo  I.-  Sili  i  lo 
tuugamau  o  le  aiga  i  lo  una.  0  I"  tagntn  nei  ua 
mauva  n  ua  loto  tele,  n  a  ua  maloai  ;  c  mafai  f«  i  una  ia 
faiiau  tufii  n  a  fai  tusiliina  c  poi  o  sc  faiaof  i  i 
I  oto  l'"i  o  in  i  fol  i     'i  i  "'  linia,   ua  la'un 

..  in  «.  ](■  i.int  ii  ]  "i"      l'n  oo  i  lc  insi  aso  ua  mil     o  le  altu,  in  a 
faufau  o  in  i  1"  Ii  i  uiainioa  i  i  uu  i   res*  ••  lulalnlagi,    :nj!«i(a  *  l  >  i  ■ 

.      foi  nai  Ii  ti  le     .ma  aln    leu   o   ia    i    le   I;    i     "  ■  '  "  "■    " 
Mia  o  le  a  aln  atu  i  San   Francisco     "  Ii  ai  i  u 
Eofie  lenei  aai,  ua    telo'lin  '   -"a    ' 

i,  unci  .■  le  niafail  mlia.     I      iiiauli'eli'e  1    i  i   |  '■• 
i.uii  ua  tiiinu  i  mania  Ii  Yi.      *■ 
iivc  i  !,■  ensi  osii   ua  ■■  in  i"  ia,  ua  i  i  u  atu 

inula  i  .   :• 

■•I  i  fi  ',  i  u  h  '.  i  ia  t.  lc  ua  fan]  •  n  i  na  u  a 
i  m         nei  taj  ita.o  man  ai,  lalou  lc 

,i     e  fi  nni  -ni' 
/    ,    i   .  Fai  I   r  t      |  .  i  ii  ia  i  na  il"  i   :-i    Ii  a    ll     ' 
i  n  -  Ii  lonn  lolei  I  ]     i 

faitot.  i  u  "ni   I'.'.ii    '   i      |  '    ■     :'     nrio  »  o  li 
i  uteuina  foi  "  lo  lotoa  ua  mannia  lavae  |>oi  i>  I 
l      in  Ten* i   ma  ua  In  i    i  loo  Ii 

i.fo  lam  i  leniai Ii  a  m  nta.     '  I  a  ia  ill  all     i    ■ 

i  igntan  vnai  n  ai  in  I"  in.    I'a  ti    mai  le  tagnti    ■ 

i!,inn  I  ,  nv  tilio  liiai  I" 

i .      |        p.    .  :  i  t    ..ii      ■     •    i  'a  v     Ina  i  1 

i.  Vo  faatocainu  I 

i  •  uliiili  I"    'in  ,'ri'  ii  in  ma 

ua  i.    i  i.  •  ';■      Oi 
In  Mini  mai  f"i  I"  l. : 

i  o  i  laua.     I  ai  lea  e  le  tuj  alo  in 

llllll  I  i     I.  I.        i     i     I. ma    i  Ir 

i   .  |    .,  nun  lea  le  tuj    Ii    ia  Tcavi 

•■ni.   fi''.-  1.  Ii  i  |..n  111  fall .    1  !•   1      1 

"I'ee  te  le  <ia  niaini     •     ii  nn  ji.l ' 


II 


■ 

in''!.       I    •    >■ 
'       I      1 

i'  n  vnivi  i       I 
,,'i  .1-  .  nil 

n.ifiiui  1    ' 

1.  a  :  mi  uiii  ■  Ii  ' 
in.     i 
1 1  • .     A  1    •  ' 
n    il.  pn  11 

I  nni  Ii  . 
ai.  01 
I'ngnfuo      1 1  i-  1 
■    II  u  Ii    I 

j  1  lie  lain, 
alii  ua  nni  tin 

!!!'i-  1 
■ 

lei.  I.-  fmi'      0  Ii 

1,  1  fin 

ii  .  p.  a  n  • 

li  (.•..in  11  1  • 
nn  1  nn  1 


The  beginning  of  the  first  chaptei  oi  The  Bottle  Imp,  < 
the  Samoan  mi     on  ]  iper,  0  le  Sulu,  printed  in  the  native  langu 


BOOKS  AND  COLLABORATION      99 

son)  would  appear,  and  that  it  would  extend 
over  a  period  of  six  months.  In  all,  there 
were  seven  chapters. 

Of  that  number  of  the  Sulu  in  which  The 
Bottle  Imp  opened  there  is  only  one  copy 
extant,  and  that  is  in  Mr.  Newell's  posses- 
sion; but  through  the  courtesy  of  this  gentle- 
man I  am  able  to  give  a  reproduction  in  fac- 
simile of  the  beginning  of  the  story  as  it  ap- 
peared in  that  paper. 

Stevenson  was  once  commissioned  to  write 
a  life  of  Burns,  for  the  Encyclopaedia 
Brittanica,  I  believe.  He  told  me  that  he 
had  written  it  as  veraciously,  and  at  the  same 
time  as  moderately,  as  he  could,  but  the  pub- 
lishers evidently  thought  it  contained  some 
things  that  were  better  left  unsaid,  since  they 
informed  him  that  it  was  "  too  severe." 
Somebody  else  then  wrote  the  "Life;"  but 
Stevenson  was  handsomely  remunerated  for 
his  trouble  "  and  the  day  wasted."  I  wonder 
where  that  manuscript  is;  there  are  many 
thousands  who  would  be  glad  to  know  what 


ioo    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

Scotland's  most  famous  latter-day  novelist 
thought  of  Scotland's  national  poet.  It 
seems  to  me  that  this  "  Life,"  written  by 
Stevenson,  deserves  to  be  preserved  as  an  im- 
portant contribution,  to  the  literature  dealing 
with  Burns.  I  am  satisfied  that  his  strictures 
were  honest  ones,  and  that  the  effort  was  a 
painstaking  one. 

Sick  or  well,  Stevenson  was  a  great  worker. 
He  wrote  at  all  hours;  he  wrote  in  all  places; 
and  it  was  a  favorite  attitude  of  his  to  sit  on 
the  floor  and  write  with  the  paper  on  his 
knees.  He  was  an  indefatigable  worker. 
Somewhere  he  writes  in  defense  of  the  idler, 
yet  he  was  no  idler.  His  writings  are  full 
of  preachings  that  he  never  practiced.  We 
can  all  of  us  tell  our  fellows  how  to  get  the 
best  out  of  life,  but  by  the  time  we  take  the 
lesson  to  heart  ourselves  we  have  grown  old 
and  "  the  orange  is  squeezed  dry."  It  was 
so  with  Stevenson.  He  was  always  looking 
forward  to  the  time  when  he  would  be  able 


BOOKS  AND  COLLABORATION    101 

to  "  take  life  easier;  "  and  when  it  came,  poor 
fellow,  they  carried  him  to  his  long  resting 
place  upon  Mt.  Vaea! 


CHAPTER  IX 

TUSITALA   AND  THE   NATIVES 

Stevenson's  interest  in  the  natives  of  Sa- 
moa, and  his  efforts  to  promote  their  welfare, 
are  well  known.  Not  only  did  he  write  his 
Footnote  to  History  and  those  letters  to 
the'  Times  which  made  him  "  yawn  to  re- 
read," all  pleas  for  more  considerate  treat- 
ment of  the  natives,  but  he  left  no  stone  un- 
turned to  make  himself  thoroughly  familiar 
with  their  manners  and  customs  and  their  his- 
tory, ancient  and  modern.  Shortly  after  his 
arrival,  after  having  decided  to  settle  in  the 
country  permanently,  he  set  about  learning 
the  Samoan  language  and  in  a  comparatively 
short  time  was  able  to  speak  it  tolerably  well, 
though  he  never  learned  to  speak  it  fluently. 
He  was  destined,  in  days  that  were  to  follow, 

102 


V 

z 
c 


to 

c 


a 
o 


C3 
CO 


TUSITALA  AND  THE  NATIVES  103 

to  play  an  important  part  in  Samoan  affairs, 
and  he  figured  prominently,  and  always  hon- 
orably, in  a  number  of  exciting  incidents. 
Subsequent  events  have  absolutely  justified  his 
trenchant  and  manly  conclusions  set  down  in 
both  the  Footnote  and  the  Times. 

Not  long  after  he  settled  at  Vailima,  Ste- 
venson developed  a  special  interest  in  the 
half-castes.  He  told  me  one  day  that  it 
would  be  a  good  thing  if  they  were  taken  in 
hand  and  brought  together  in  some  social 
way  so  that  they  might  meet  each  other  as 
"  ladies  and  gentlemen."  The  next  thing  I 
knew  was  that  he  had  formed  a  "  club,"  the 
members  of  which  were  to  meet  weekly  at 
Vailima.  I  smiled  when  he  told  me  about 
it.  "  Some  more  of  your  enthusiastic  non- 
sense," I  declared. 

However,  I  watched  the  experiment  with 
interest.  The  members  of  the  club  were  re- 
ceived by  the  whole  household  in  the  best 
room,  and  among  other  things  were  taught 
to  dance  in  approved  English  style.      It  was 


io4    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

impressed  upon  them  that  they  were  to  dress 
as  neatly  as  they  could;  and  every  meeting 
night  their  appearance  and  deportment  were 
criticized  by  Mrs.  Stevenson  and  Mrs.  Strong. 
The  latter  had  only  arrived  a  short  time  be- 
fore this,  together  with  her  husband,  my 
friend  Joe  Strong,  and  Mrs.  Stevenson,  the 
novelist's  mother.  At  times  the  ladies  from 
Vailima  would  put  in  an  hour  or  two  at  Mo- 
tootua,  instructing  their  native  friends  in 
various  arts  and  sciences,  it  being  from  this 
village  that  most  of  the  club  members  had 
come.  The  experiment  was  not  a  success, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  the  bottom  fell  out 
of  it.  The  attendance  gradually  declined 
and  finally  the  club  was  disbanded.  I  was 
afterwards  informed  that  the  half-castes  had 
taken  umbrage  at  the  fact  that  the  Steven- 
sons'  native  cook  was  made  a  member  of  the 
club. 

Stevenson  had  his  recreations.  In  front  of 
his  home  he  had  a  lawn  tennis  court  and  cro- 
quet lawn   laid   out.     At   times   he   danced; 


Uo,  a  native  chief,  one  of  Stevenson's  friends 


TUSITALA  AND  THE  NATIVES     105 

and  on  one  occasion,  as  his  cousin  Graham 
Balfour  has  pointed  out  in  his  Life,  he 
found  himself  vis-a-vis  with  Chief  Justice 
Cedarkrantz  in  a  square  dance  at  a  ball  in 
Apia,  "  at  a  time  when  either  was  eagerly 
compassing  the  removal  of  the  other  from 
the  island."  Of  this  interesting  meeting  Ste- 
venson wrote:  "  We  exchanged  a  glance  and 
then  a  grin;  the  man  took  me  in  his  confi- 
dence; and  through  the  remainder  of  that 
prance,  we  pranced  for  each  other." 

Truly  enough,  in  those  days  the  Apia  balls 
were  fearful  and  wonderful  things  in  which 
all  sorts  of  strange  and  incongruous  elements 
were  mixed;  and  for  the  time  people  forgot 
their  animosities  and  hatreds,  and  met  their 
bitterest  enemies  as  if  they  were  life-long 
friends.  Once  outside  the  ball-room,  how- 
ever, they  resumed  their  normal  conditions  of 
life  and  went  along  the  uneven  tenor  of  their 
way. 

But  I  think  the  recreation  in  which  Steven- 
son   took    most    delight    was    mounting    on 


io6    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

"  Jack's  "  back  and  riding  to  the  various  na- 
tive villages  along  the  beautiful  coast. 
Though  very  fond  of  riding,  he  was  not  what 
one  would  call  a  daring  rider.  A  gallop  was 
too  exhilarating  a  pastime  for  him.  He 
would  just  jog  along  slowly,  taking  in  the 
grandeur  of  the  scenery  as  he  went.  If  he 
looked  upon  life  as  "  an  affair  of  cavalry," 
he  certainly  held  the  conviction  that  galloping 
was  a  wicked  shame  — "  for,"  said  he, 
"  what's  the  use  of  having  eyes  if  we  can't 
see  the  world  we  pass  through?  " 

He  was  passionately  fond  of  "Jack;"  in 
Mr.  Balfour's  words,  "he  reigned  alone  in 
Stevenson's  affection,  and  never  having  been 
mounted  since,  is  passing  a  peaceful  old  age 
in  a  friend's  paddock  in  Upolu."  The  pony 
was  familiarly  known  as  "  ten  pounder  Jack." 
Originally  I  had  taken  him  for  a  ten  pound 
bet  I  had  won ;  then  I  sold  him  for  ten  pounds, 
and  bought  him  back  for  ten  pounds;  and 
finally  I  sold  him  to  Stevenson  for  ten  pounds. 
I  have  no  doubt  the  large  amount  of  exer- 


Stevenson,  with  his  friend  Tuimalealiifagu,  a  native  chief 


TUSITALA  AND  THE  NATIVES     107 

cise  he  took  on  "  Jack  "  did  him  a  world  of 
good.  At  times  he  surprised  himself  by  his 
long  rides,  to  say  nothing  of  the  astonishment 
of  his  friends. 

"  Twenty  miles  ride,  sixteen  fences  taken, 
ten  of  the  miles  in  a  drenching  rain,  seven 
of  them  fasting  and  in  the  morning  chill,  and 
six  stricken  hours  political  discussions  by  an 
interpreter;  to  say  nothing  of  sleeping  in  a 
native  house,  at  which  many  of  our  excellent 
literati  would  look  askance  of  itself."  This 
was  his  summarized  account  of  a  visit  to 
Mataafa,  "  the  rebel  king,"  at  Malie.  And 
the  interpreter  who  accompanied  him  was 
none  other  than  Charlie  (Sale)  Taylor,  the 
"  sesquipedalian  young  half-caste  "  who  gave 
Stevenson  his  lessons  in  Samoan.  As  to  Ma- 
taafa, he  calls  him  a  "  beautiful,  sweet  old  fel- 
low; "  and  in  a  letter  written  to  Mr.  Colvin 
the  day  after  we  read:  "  I  had  a  messenger 
from  him  to-day  with  a  flannel  undershirt 
which  I  had  left  behind,  like  a  jibbering 
idiot." 


108    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

On  the  occasion  of  a  "  malaga,"  or  jour- 
ney, to  a  native  town,  he  usually  took  Lloyd 
Osbourne  with  him,  and  the  latter  was  in- 
variably  equipped  with  a  camera.  Being  a 
"  big  chief,"  Stevenson,  or  Tusitala,  as  the 
natives  called  him,  always  entertained  on 
an  elaborate  scale,  and  many  a  satisfying 
feast  and  gorgeous  "  Siva  "  (native  dance) 
were  given  in  his  honor.  The  island  stories 
and  legends  were  always  full  of  charm  for 
him,  and  he  spent  many  hours  listening  to  the 
recital  of  them. 

Instead  of  scribes,  the  Samoans  had  their 
memorizers.  These  men  had  learned  the  le- 
gends by  heart,  legends  and  history,  and  in 
due  time  taught  them  to  their  successors;  in 
this  way  they  were  handed  down  from  genera- 
tion to  generation.  Though  much  has  now 
been  committed  to  paper,  and  the  honorable 
calling  of  the  keepers  of  the  legends  is  fast 
dying  out,  there  still  remain  many  interesting 
fragments  of  folk-lore  and  history  locked  up 
in  the  breasts  of  these  legend  keepers.     So 


pronounced  Allie),  a  native  warrior,  one  of  Stevenson's  friends 


TUSITALA  AND  THE  NATIVES     109 

far  nothing  has  been  done  to  collect  the  poetry 
of  these  people,  or,  I  should  rather  say,  to 
make  it  known  in  other  countries;  but  this 
will  be  done  shortly.  I  believe  it  was  Ste- 
venson's intention  to  have  the  poetry  of  Sa- 
moa collected  and  translated,  so  that  he  might 
render  it  into  English  verse;  but  unfortu- 
nately he  did  not  live  to  carry  out  the  work. 
An  effort  is  now  being  made,  however,  to  do 
this ;  it  has  been  taken  in  hand  by  an  Auckland 
journalist,  Mr.  W.  Farmer  Whyte,  and  it  is 
not  without  interest  to  state  that  in  the  work 
of  translation  he  is  receiving  the  valuable  as- 
sistance of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson's  old  in- 
terpreter, Sale  Taylor.  The  Samoans  are 
nothing  if  not  a  poetic  race;  there  is  rare 
beauty  in  some  of  their  songs,  in  both  con- 
ception and  execution;  and  any  attempt  to 
present  them  in  English  form  will  naturally 
be  watched  with  a  great  deal  of  interest. 

When  I  returned  from  the  Chicago  Expo- 
sition, Stevenson  came  to  me  with  a  doleful 
tale  of  the  sufferings  and  indignities  heaped 


no    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

upon  the  prisoners  of  war  who  were  confined 
in  jail.  Food  was  scarce,  all  over  Samoa, 
owing  chiefly  to  the  carelessness  of  the  na- 
tives, combined  with  their  warlike  operations. 
These  prisoners  were  all  friends  of  ours. 
The  useless  and  improvident  "  Government," 
which  had  gained  the  day  by  being  able  to 
enlist  the  support  of  some  foreign  men-of- 
war,  had  now  neither  food,  funds,  nor  energy 
for  their  own  purposes,  nor  supplies  for  those 
whom  they  detained.  In  this  state  of  things 
the  prisoners  were  told  that  their  own  peo- 
ple, who  lived  at  some  considerable  distance 
from  Apia,  would  have  to  provide  them  with 
food;  otherwise  they  might  starve.  They 
were  confined  within  an  enclosure  on  Mu- 
linuu  Point,  under  the  care  of  a  kind-hearted 
old  Austrian,  Baron  von  Wurmbrand.  The 
good  jailer,  who  at  this  time  thought  he  could 
see  some  sort  of  future  for  the  rickety  Gov- 
ernment which  the  Powers  were  backing  up 
so  handsomely,  had  already  used  fully  half  of 
his  own  meager  and  irregularly  paid  salary, 


irl  of  eighteen,  the  daughter  of  Seumanutafa,  a  great 

friend  of  St  i  >.     All  of  the  Samoana   have  straighl    black 

hair,  naturally  luxuriant,  but  Vao'    hair  has  been  i  ul   short  in    ac- 

lance  with  native  ideas  of  beauty.     She  i    dre   ied  foi  hei  bridal 

t,  her  garments  entirel;    of  native  manufacture,  of  bark  cloth 

and  fine  m 


TUSITALA  AND  THE  NATIVES     1 1 1 

in  his  efforts  to  feed  his  prisoners,  when  in 
his  extremity  he  appealed  to  Stevenson.  The 
latter  had  responded  manfully,  as  I  soon 
ascertained. 

I  was  astonished  at  what  I  heard  and 
hastened  to  visit  Mulinuu  and  call  on  the 
kindly  Baron.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  obtain- 
ing his  permission  to  see  the  prisoners,  and 
when  I  left  the  place  a  dozen  of  the  inmates 
were  released  on  parole  to  accompany  me  to 
my  store  and  load  themselves  with  supplies 
of  rice,  flour,  biscuits  and  beef.  The  im- 
mediate sequel  would  hardly  be  looked  for 
in  more  civilized  countries.  Our  lately  de- 
jected prisoners  gave  a  feast  and  invited  some 
of  their  captors  to  partake  of  these  new  boun- 
ties. 

Stevenson  showed  much  interest  in  an  ef- 
fort of  mine  to  introduce  the  cultivation  of 
cacao  among  the  natives.  It  arose  out  of 
a  conversation  we  had  one  day,  in  the  course 
of  which  he  remarked  how  tiresome  the  life 
of  a  native  must  be,  with  no  books  to  read, 


ii2    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

no  literature  save  Bible  stories  and  religious 
anecdote,  and  little  in  the  way  of  useful  work 
to  engage  their  attention.  I  agreed  that  idle- 
ness was  at  the  bottom  of  most  of  the  polit- 
ical troubles  which  constantly  wrecked  the 
islands,  the  people  having  little  else  to  think 
about  but  war  and  strife. 

"  Why  don't  you  write  something  interest- 
ing from  time  to  time  and  have  it  circulated 
among  the  Samoans?"  asked  Stevenson. 

It  was  then  that  the  idea  occurred  to  me. 
"  If  this  cacao-growing  business  were  de- 
scribed to  the  Samoans,"  I  said,  "  I  believe 
they  would  take  an  interest  in  it;  and,  be- 
sides the  pleasure  of  watching  these  new  crops 
mature,  it  would  give  them  more  money  to 
spend,  and  would  be  a  good  thing  for  the 
stores  and  the  town  generally." 

Yielding  to  my  friend's  desire  I  wrote  a 
little  pamphlet  of  about  twenty  pages,  partly 
historical  and  partly  instructive.  In  it  I 
dealt  at  length  with  cacao  planting  and  other 
attainable   industries,   urging   the   natives   to 


SO 

-5 


o 


eo 

<1> 


E 
o 

/ 


TUSITALA  AND  THE  NATIVES     113 

take  some  of  them  up.  The  cost  of  trans- 
lating and  printing  ran  into  something  like 
twenty  pounds,  and  Stevenson  contributed 
five  pounds  towards  the  expense.  Copies  of 
the  pamphlet  were  distributed  gratis  all  over 
Samoa,  with  the  result  that  the  natives  en- 
tered into  the  cacao  growing  idea  with  en- 
thusiasm. Unfortunately,  their  efforts  were 
sadly  counteracted  by  the  fact  that  there  were 
then  only  a  few  cacao  trees  in  the  country  that 
were  bearing,  and  these  were  owned  by  the 
German  firm.  The  manager  of  this  concern, 
instead  of  showing  a  liberal  mind  and  a  de- 
sire for  the  welfare  and  advancement  of  the 
natives,  which  incidentally  would  have  bene- 
fited his  own  company,  saw  only  in  this  mo- 
nopoly a  means  of  making  money.  He  made 
me  pay  about  forty  times  its  value  for  the 
cacao  he  supplied  for  the  distribution  among 
the  Samoans.  Seed-pods  which  were  actually 
worth  three-quarters  of  a  cent  I  had  to  pro- 
cure from  him  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  cents. 
However,    I   bought   a   considerable   quantity 


ii4    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

of  them  and  resold  them  to  the  natives  at  the 
same  price  as  I  had  paid;  but  more  or  less 
went  bad  on  my  hands,  and  I  was  a  consider- 
able loser  in  the  experiment.  Though  Ste- 
venson generously  offered  to  share  the  loss 
I  had  incurred,  I  never  rendered  him  any  ac- 
count. 

Thus  cacao  was  introduced  into  almost  ev- 
ery district,  and  I  believe  our  efforts  would 
have  been  eminently  successful  if  it  had  not 
been  for  a  severe  drought  which  occurred  soon 
afterwards  and  destroyed  most  of  the  young 
plants.  As  it  is,  the  natives  still  grow  a  small 
amount  of  cacao.  It  is  now  being  cultivated 
largely  by  the  white  residents,  who  find  it 
very  profitable,  an  excellent  quality  being  ob- 
tained. Stevenson  himself  had  a  number  of 
trees  planted  at  Vailima,  but  they  never  came 
to  much  good  there.  I  think  they  languished 
for  want  of  proper  care  and  attention,  for 
Mr.  Carruthers,  whose  property  adjoined 
Vailima,  had  very  good  success  with  his 
plantation.      If    further   proof   were    needed 


Cacao  tree  in  bearing.  Under  Joe  Strong's  guidance  Stevenson  planted 
man)  thousands  of  these  undei  the  high  foresl  trees  back  of  lus 
house.  No  one  in  Samoa  had  evei  before  undertaken  this  kind  of 
culture.     The  experimenl  al  the  time  was  nol  a  success 


TUSITALA  AND  THE  NATIVES     115 

that  the  fault  did  not  rest  with  the  soil,  I 
might  add  that  I  am  growing  it  with  the  best 
of  success  on  my  own  Papaloloa  property 
hard  by.  But  Stevenson,  though  he  farmed, 
was  no  farmer;  and  as  for  Joe  Strong,  who 
for  some  time  held  the  position  of  Overseer- 
in-Ordinary  to  the  Vailima  King  —  well,  he 
might  have  made  a. very  good  landscape-gar- 
dener, but  he  was  too  esthetic  for  cacao  grow- 
ing. And  Lloyd  Osbourne,  who  was  a  sort 
of  general  manager  of  the  place,  just  liked  to 
sit  down  and  "watch  things  grow;"  and  if 
they  didn't  grow,  they  didn't. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PEACE    OR   WAR? 

"  War  is  a  huge  entrainment"  wrote 
Stevenson.  "  Politics  is  a  vile  and  bungling 
business.  I  used  to  think  meanly  of  the 
plumber;  but  he  shines  beside  the  politi- 
cian!" 

And  he  knew  what  war  was  —  even  as  it 
was  in  Samoa,  with  the  taking  of  heads;  and 
he  .could  not  keep  his  hands  out  of  that  vile 
and  bungling  business  called  politics. 

"  The  family,"  writes  Mr.  Colvin,  "  had 
taken  a  trip  to  Sydney  in  February,  1893, 
after  influenza,  returning  with  health  unim- 
proved, and  in  April  Mrs.  Stevenson's  health 
caused  her  husband  grave  anxiety.  In  Au- 
gust he  had  the  chagrin  of  witnessing  the  out- 
break of  war   in   the   island   which   he   had 

116 


PEACE  OR  WAR  117 

vainly  striven  to  prevent,  and  the  defeat  and 
banishment  of  Mataafa." 

On  July  1,  1893,  a  "  Queen's  Regulation," 
framed  by  Sir  John  Thurston,  High  Com- 
missioner for  the  Western  Pacific,  for  the 
maintenance  of  peace  and  good  order  in  Sa- 
moa," came  into  force;  and  Stevenson  be- 
lieved that  this  Regulation  was  aimed  at  him. 
The  three  principal  clauses  ran  as  follows : 

1.  Any  British  subject  who  shall  be  guilty  of 
sedition  towards  the  Government  of  Samoa  shall  be 
liable  on  conviction  to  a  fine  not  exceeding  ten 
pounds,  or  to  imprisonment  without  hard  labor 
for  not  more  than  three  months,  with  or  without  a 
fine  not  exceeding  ten  pounds. 

2.  The  expression  "  Government  of  Samoa " 
shall  mean  the  Government  recognized  as  such  in 
Samoa  by  the  principal  British  Consular  officer  for 
the  time  being  in  Samoa. 

3.  The  expression  "  sedition  towards  the  Govern- 
ment of  Samoa  "  shall  embrace  all  practices,  whether 
by  word,  deed,  or  writing,  having  for  their  object 
to  bring  about  in  Samoa  public  disturbances  or  civil 
war,  and  generally  to  promote  public  disorder  in  the 
country. 


n8    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

While  proceeding  to  Sydney  on  the  trip  re- 
ferred to  by  Mr.  Colvin,  a  reporter  from  the 
New  Zealand  Herald  interviewed  Mr.  Ste- 
venson. Life  to  a  British  resident  in  Samoa, 
he  said,  would  soon  cease  to  be  worth  living 
if  certain  officials  there  were  to  continue  the 
rule.  Producing  the  Regulation  in  question, 
he  added  that  he  would  like  to  have  the  great- 
est possible  publicity  given  to  it.  "  If  those 
are  to  be  laws  of  Great  Britain,"  he  contin- 
ued, "the  Lord  deliver  us;  and  I  have  rea- 
sons more  than  one  for  believing  that  this 
Regulation  was  mainly  directed  against  me. 
The  Deputy  Commissioner  sent  me  a  copy, 
and  my  whole  anxiety  is  to  make  it  public. 
The  document  is  a  historical  curiosity,  and  is 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  regulations  in 
the  form  of  British  law  which  this  century 
has  produced.  The  definition  of  sedition  is 
unique  in  its  way.  It  is  seditious  to  say  a 
word  likely  to  tend  to  bring  about  discontent 
or  dissatisfaction  with  the  existing  state  of 
affairs.     .     .     .     Sir    John    Thurston    must 


PEACE  OR  WAR  119 

have  been  misinformed  as  to  the  need  for 
such  an  arrangement.  What  Samoa  really 
wants  is  to  get  rid  of  the  leading  white  offi- 
cials; that  is,  the  Chief  Justice  and  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Council." 

In  answer  to  a  question  as  to  whether  he 
was  likely  to  leave  Samoa,  Mr.  Stevenson 
said:  "Certainly  not  —  that  is,  unless  I  am 
deported.  That  Regulation  smells  of  mar- 
tial law;  but  there  is  no  sign  of  war  in  the 
islands,  though  there  has  been  an  attempt  to 
get  up  martial  law  over  a  little  clan  quarrel 
in  which  no  one  took  any  interest." 

Particulars  of  this  interview  were  cabled 
to  London,  and  on  April  7th  a  London  cable 
bearing  on  the  subject  was  published  in  the 
Australian  papers.  Sir  John  Thurston  was 
at  that  time  in  Sydney,  and  he  was  interviewed 
by  a  representative  of  the  Daily  Telegraph. 
"  This  cablegram,"  said  Sir  John,  "  may  have 
some  connection  with  the  impression  conceived 
by  Mr.  Stevenson  that  the  Regulation  had  a 
reference  to  him;  but  I  do  not  know  him  and 


120    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

he  was  not  in  my  mind  when  that  Regulation 
was  drawn.  It  was  drawn  upon  certain  facts 
placed  before  me,  and  which  I  could  not  ig- 
nore. .  .  .  It  is  just  conceivable  that  the 
sensitiveness  of  Mr.  Stevenson  on  this  point 
may  be  due  to  the  prickings  of  conscience. 
.  .  .  It  is  natural  if  (which,  however,  is 
not  suggested)  Mr.  Stevenson  has  been  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  inciting  the  Chief  Ma- 
taafa  to  resist  the  authority  of  the  recognized 
King  of  Samoa,  or  has  directly  or  indirectly 
incited  any  of  the  native  population  or  others 
to  resist  the  payment  of  their  taxes,  or  to  re- 
sist the  operation  of  any  other  law,  that  he 
may  view  the  Regulation  with  extreme  dis- 
favor, and  particularly  that  he  may  regard 
the  interpretation  of  the  word  '  sedition  '  as 
far  too  comprehensive.  .  .  .  The  state 
of  things  in  Samoa  in  the  past  has  been  de- 
plorable, and  even  now,  notwithstanding  the 
efforts  of  the  three  Powers  having  treaty  re- 
lations with  the  unfortunate  little  group, 
peace  and  good  order  may  be  described  as 


PEACE  OR  WAR  121 

still  unattainable,  owing  to  the  unceasing  in- 
terference and  meddlesomeness  of  irresponsi- 
ble persons." 

The  London  cablegram  was  as  follows: 
"  Mr.  R.  L.  Stevenson,  novelist,  in  a  letter  to 
the  Times,  complains  that  Sir  John  Thurston, 
Governor  of  the  Western  Pacific,  occasionally 
issues  ordinances  of  a  barbarous  nature." 
This  was  followed  a  few  days  later  with  an- 
other cable:  "In  the  House  of  Commons, 
Mr.  Sydney  C.  Buxton,  Political  Secretary  of 
the  Colonial  Office,  was  urged  to  disclose 
the  terms  of  the  directions  he  had  issued  to 
Sir  John  Thurston  to  modify  his  opposition 
to  Mr.  Robert  Louis  Stevenson.  Mr.  Bux- 
ton declined  to  furnish  the  details,  though  he 
said  instructions  had  been  issued  to  the  High 
Commissioner  to  greatly  modify  his  opposi- 
tion to  Mr.  Stevenson." 

It  was  known  that  Stevenson  was  in  the 
habit  of  visiting  Mataafa  at  Malie,  and  by 
some  this  action  was  construed  as  showing  a 
seditious  turn  of  mind.      It  is  not  denied  that 


122    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

his  sympathies  were  entirely  with  Mataafa, 
but  it  is  unjust  to  his  memory  to  suppose  that 
he  ever  for  a  single  moment  sought  to  bring 
about  a  war.  The  Civil  War  of  1893  was 
none  of  his  doing;  on  the  contrary,  he  en- 
deavored by  every  means  that  lay  in  his 
power  to  prevent  it.  Malietoa  is  dead;  but 
Mataafa  and  Tamasese  still  live,  and  these 
two  remember  Stevenson  as  a  man  whose  ef- 
forts were  always  for  peace.  "  Do  unto 
others  as  you  would  have  others  do  unto 
you,"  was  the  text  of  an  address  he  delivered 
on  one  occasion  to  a  number  of  chiefs  at 
Tamasese's  headquarters,  and  afterwards  to 
an  assemblage  of  about  five  hundred  of 
Tamasese's  supporters.  That  was  not  a 
fighting  speech;  that  was  no  advice  to  them 
to  take  the  heads  of  their  enemies. 

The  causes  that  led  to  the  civil  war  were 
many,  and  Stevenson  had  nothing  to  do  with 
them.  Mataafa  was  the  popular  idol  of  the 
country;  but  the  Powers  supported  Malietoa 
as  king,  despite  the  fact  that  when  Malietoa 


I    masese  the  Elder 


PEACE  OR  WAR  123 

had  been  sent  into  temporary  exile  he  had 
transferred  his  kingly  functions  to  Mataafa; 
as  for  Tamasese,  he,  too,  had  a  large  follow- 
ing. The  country  was  rent  with  dissensions. 
A  local  rhymester  thus  summed  up  the  situa- 
tion : 

Two  kings  we  have,  they're  both  polite, 
For  neither  likes  to  start  a  fight; 
So  one  sits  down  at  Mulinuu, 
Quite  hard  at  work  —  with  nought  to  do. 
The  other  lives  just  down  the  coast, 
And  little  does  but  talk  and  boast; 
While  youthful  Tamasese's  name 
Atua's  chiefs  will  soon  proclaim: 
And  then  we  shall  have  monarchs  three, 
But  each  without  a  salary. 

On  May  8,  1893,  Mataafa  wrote  the  fol« 
lowing  letter  to  Malietoa : 

To  His  Majesty  Malietoa  Laupepa,  Mulinuu: 

Your  Majesty:  —  I  write  this  letter  with  the 
greatest  respect  to  your  Majesty,  that  you  may  be 
friendly  disposed  towards  me,  because  although  you 
are  very  angry  with  me  my  intentions  here  expressed 
will  not  change.  I  am  very  anxious  for  you  to 
change  your  mind,  that  we  may  both  be  well  joined 


i24    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

together  in  peace  and  friendship.  I  beg  of  you  to 
give  over  your  anger  referred  to,  because  I  know 
from  many  reports  that  reach  me  that  you,  and 
those  that  are  with  you,  of  Tumua  and  Pule,  and 
Itusu,  and  Alataua,  and  Aiga,  are  about  to  cause 
war  in  Samoa  on  account  of  our  being  divided.  I 
do  not  understand  the  reason  why  this  war  should 
take  place.  If  you  are  angry  concerning  the  name 
of  Malietoa,  let  us  take  the  matter  into  considera- 
tion. Sir,  those  who  gave  this  name  were  Tuisamau 
and  Auimatagi.  It  was  by  the  wish  also  of  Ma- 
nono;  it  was  by  the  express  wish  of  Safotulafai,  of 
Saleaula,  of  the  Faleao,  and  of  the  Alataua.  When 
you  returned  alive  from  your  great  distresses,  you 
said  to  me,  "  Take  you  the  command,  and  confer 
with  the  people,  for  I  am  not  strong  enough." 

On  another  matter,  I  hear  you  are  angry  about 
the  title  of  king.  Certainly  it  was  by  your  direc- 
tion made  in  the  presence  of  the  great  council  meet- 
ing of  our  kingdom.  You  will  perceive  that  my 
Stay  here  has  not  arisen  out  of  my  error  or  pride. 
On  this  account  I  beg  and  entreat  you  to  put  away 
that  word  —  War !  This  is  my  real  wish  and  it 
is  that  of  those  of  Tumua,  and  Pule,  and  Manono, 
and  Saleaula,  and  Aiga,  who  are  with  me,  and  who 
say  that  they  do  not  wish  Samoa  to  be  again  torn 
to  pieces  by  us  two.  I  therefore  beg  of  you,  wTith 
those  of  Tumua  and  those  Pule  who  are  with  you, 
to  let  us  have  a  friendly  meeting  here.     If  you  do 


PEACE  OR  WAR  125 

not  wish  the  meeting  to  take  place  here,  let  it  be 
at  your  pleasure  whether  it  should  be  at  Lalogafu- 
afua,  or  Maauga,  or  Falue,  or  Utuagiagi,  or  Vailoa, 
or  Fuifatu,  or  in  Vaituutuu. 

If  from  this  meeting  Samoa  would  reap  any 
friendship  and  good,  then  let  it  choose  him  that  it  is 
unanimous  for  and  is  satisfied  with;  if  your  Maj- 
esty, then  it  shall  be  agreeable  to  my  wish ;  if  anyone 
else,  or  if  myself,  let  that  be  pleasing  to  you,  and 
do  not  be  angry,  for  I  do  not  desire  to  coerce  and 
ride  over  the  wishes  of  any  Samoans.  But  let  all 
Samoa  be  gathered  together  in  friendship  and  in 
peace,  and  let  our  country  then  construct  in  peace, 
a  Government;  and  we  shall  be  able  to  carry  out 
our  agreements  with  the  Three  Powers. 

Your  Majesty,  may  you  live  long! 
I  am  your  true  brother, 
J.  T.  M.  T.  L.  T.  Mataafa, 

Pule  in  Samoa. 

A  copy  of  this  letter  appeared  in  the 
Samoa  Times  published  in  Apia,  on  May 
20,  1893;  and  alongside  it,  above  the 
signature  of  George  Pritchard,  a  recognized 
authority  on  Samoan  matters,  appeared  these 
explanatory  remarks:  "Mataafa  was  right 
in   his  offer  to   meet  Laupepa  the  king,   on 


126    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

Laupepa's  own  make,  Vaitoelau,  to  talk  of 
serious  matters  referring  to  the  constitution 
of  Samoa.  Samoans  do  not  know  any  malae 
at  Mulinuu ;  it  is  only  known  as  a  good  place 
for  a  fort.  Atua  or  Aana  chiefs  would  never 
think  of  meeting  at  Mulinuu  to  discuss  politi- 
cal affairs.  They  would  at  once  go  to  Lufi- 
lufi  or  to  Leulumoega.  It  was  a  great  draw- 
back to  the  settlement  of  government  affairs 
that  Malietoa  Laupepa  did  not  go  to  Malie 
and  have  a  talk  with  Mataafa.  Parties  say 
that  Mataafa  is  a  rebel;  in  our  European  style 
he  is  a  rebel,  but  not  in  the  Samoan. 
Mataafa  is  a  high  chief,  in  fact  the  highest 
chief  in  Samoa.  No  one  is  left  equal  in  rank 
to  him  outside  of  the  kingship.  He  was  also 
appointed  by  Malietoa  Laupepa,  when 
Malietoa  was  taken  away,  to  be  his  successor; 
and  but  for  the  unfortunate  affair  of  the 
German  Consul  allowing  a  party  of  sailors 
from  the  Imperial  German  men-of-war  to 
land  at  night  at  Fagalli,  where  a  conflict  took 


o 

Oh 

3 

C 
C 


PEACE  OR  WAR  127 

place  between  the  Germans  and  natives, 
Mataafa  would  still  have  been  a  king." 

I  think  I  have  made  it  abundantly  clear 
that  the  war  which  followed  was  not  of 
Mataafa's  seeking  but  that  the  blame  for  it 
must  be  laid  at  the  door  of  the  Foreign 
Powers,  for  without  their  backing  Malietoa 
Laupepa  would  certainly  never  have  entered 
upon  it.  Mataafa  sought  to  bring  about  a 
settlement  by  peaceful  means,  and  in  that 
endeavor  he  was  supported  by  Stevenson. 
He  asked  that  a  general  election  for  the  king- 
ship should  take  place  and  bound  himself  to 
accept  the  result. 

This  proposition  did  not  originate  with 
Stevenson  but  he  judged  it  to  be  the  best, 
most  satisfactory,  and  most  expeditious  way 
of  disposing  of  the  dispute. 


CHAPTER  XII 


11  LIBELLING  "    A    MISSIONARY 


Now  Mataafa  was  a  Catholic. 

It  was  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  some 
of  the  Protestant  missionaries  opposed  his 
claim  to  kingship.  Although  he  was  sup- 
ported by  nearly  eighty  per  cent  of  the  native 
population,  many  who  had  given  their  adher- 
ence to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  held 
aloof  from  him :  strange  as  it  may  seem,  his 
support  was  chiefly  Protestant.  The  Prot- 
estant Samoan  was  unable  to  appreciate  the 
objection  raised  by  the  Protestant  missionary. 

As  for  Malietoa,  he  had  no  following  to 
speak  of,  and  without  the  support  of  the 
Powers  he  would  have  been  in  a  hopeless 
position.  He  was  unable  to  collect  any  taxes, 
even  though  backed  up  by  a  proclamation 
issued  by  the  Consuls  representing  the  three 

128 


"  LIBELLING  "  A  MISSIONARY    .129 

Powers;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  Mataafa 
had  no  difficulty  in  collecting  such  moneys 
as  he  needed.  Malietoa,  of  course,  was 
located  in  Apia;  Mataafa  had  settled  him- 
self at  Malie,  the  ancient  Samoan  capital. 
On  behalf  of  the  latter  it  was  claimed  that 
under  the  Berlin  General  Act  of  1889  the 
Samoans  were  an  autonomous  nation,  and 
were  free  to  select  their  own  form  of  govern- 
ment and  their  own  chief,  or  ruler  —  as,  in- 
deed, the  Act  provided.  The  people  had 
selected  him  by  a  very  large  majority,  and 
he  was  prepared  to  show  that  majority  at 
any  time.  If  allowed  to  be  king,  recognized 
by  the  Powers,  he  stated  he  would  not  ask 
them  to  assist  him  as  they  had  had  to  assist 
Malietoa,  to  collect  his  taxes,  punish  crim- 
inals, or  otherwise  to  aid  him  in  the  discharge 
of  his  kingly  functions. 

The  Consuls,  the  Chief  Justice,  and  the 
President  of  the  Municipal  Council  (who  was 
also  Adviser  to  the  king)  had  frequently  tried 
to   get    Mataafa   to    forego    his    claims    and 


130    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

recognize  Malietoa  as  the  lawful  king.  In 
reply  he  constantly  referred  them  both  to  the 
English  version  and  to  the  Samoan  transla- 
tion of  the  Berlin  General  Act;  pointing  out 
that  they  showed  clearly  that  Malietoa  was 
merely  to  be  recognized  as  king  by  the 
Powers  pending  the  election  of  a  ruler  by 
the  people  in  proper  form;  that  the  peo- 
ple had  proceeded  to  an  election  and  had 
chosen  him  (Mataafa)  ;  that  prior  to  the 
election  they  had  asked  the  Chief  Justice 
numberless  times  to  set  a  date  for  an  election 
to  be  conducted  in  the  ordinary  European 
manner,  and  that  he  had  always  neglected 
to  do  so.  Moreover,  the  Samoans  had  fre- 
quently told  the  Chief  Justice  in  the  presence 
of  Malietoa  him  If  "  that  he  was  not  their 
king,"  and  that  it  was  only  because  of  the 
refusal  to  set  apart  a  date  for  an  election 
that  they  had  been  driven  to  select  a  king 
by  Samoan  methods.  Mataafa  intimated 
that,  although  the  people  insisted  on  having 
him  for  their  ruler,   he  was  willing  still  to 


"LIBELLING"  A  MISSIONARY     131 

waive  his  claim  if  the  Chief  Justice  and 
foreign  officials  would  conduct  a  new  election, 
by  the  result  of  which  he  promised  faithfully 
to  abide. 

And  yet  no  move  was  made.  The  Con- 
suls and  the  Chief  Justice,  being  strongly  in- 
fluenced by  the  missionary  view,  refused  to 
take  any  part  in  bringing  about  an  election, 
which  both  Stevenson  and  myself,  as  well  as 
others,  believed  that  the  Berlin  General  Act 
certainly  contemplated.  On  one  occasion 
Mataafa  came  into  Apia  under  cover  of  a 
promise  of  immunity  in  order  to  hold  a  con- 
ference with  the  Consuls.  The  meeting  was 
productive  of  no  good,  because  Mataafa 
based  his  case  on  the  Act  referred  to,  and 
demanded  that  the  Powers  should  either 
recognize  the  election  that  had  taken  place 
or  provide  for  a  new  one.  "  For,"  said  he, 
"  how  can  Malietoa  be  king  of  this  country 
and  govern  it  when  he  is  not  respected  by 
the  people  and  they  will  not  have  him?  To 
enforce  the  decrees  of  your  court,  to  collect 


132    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

taxes,  he  has  to  have  the  assistance  of  your 
warships.  His  followers  are  few  and  un- 
important and  without  your  support  he  would 
fall  to-morrow." 

I  have  heard  of  many  strange  things  be- 
ing done  by  missionaries,  but  I  confess  I  was 
hardly  prepared  for  such  an  infamous  pro- 
posal as  was  made  to  the  United  States  Con- 
sul, Mr.  H.  M.  Sewall,  by  a  missionary 
whom  I  will  call  the  Rev.  A.  B.  C,  who 
was  attached  to  one  of  the  British  societies. 
This  gentleman,  who  had  been  employed  in 
an  official  position  before  the  Lands  Commis- 
sion, and  who  had  been  asked  to  resign  on 
account  of  certain  peculiar  practices,  actually 
made  a  proposition  to  Mr.  Sewall  that  he 
should  decoy  Mataafa  into  Apia  —  granting 
him  safe  conduct  —  and  that  while  he  was 
in  the  town  he  should  be  seized  either  by 
the  Malietoa  party,  or  by  men  from  the  war- 
ships ! 

Greatly  surprised,  Sewall  was  on  his  feet  in 
an  instant. 


I  ites  Consulate,  o<  i  upied  by  Mr.  Harold  \1.  Sewall  in 

Sic\ en  k m'    l ime. 


"LIBELLING"  A  MISSIONARY     133 

"  Mr.  A.  B.  C,"  he  said,  coldly,  "  this  can- 
not be  done." 

"Why  not?" 

"Because,  sir,  I  am  a  gentleman! ' 

A.  B.  C.  then  suggested  that  the  Germans 
should  be  got  to  do  the  dirty  work,  or  that 
it  should  be  done  in  such  a  way  that  they 
would  get  the  blame  for  it;  but  so  disgusted 
was  the  consul  that  he  bade  him  dismiss  the 
subject  from  his  mind  and  never  mention  it 
to  him  again. 

Some  time  afterwards,  when  particulars 
of  this  interview  had  reached  me,  I  heard 
that  A.  B.  C.  was  about  to  depart  for  Eng- 
land; and  I  concluded  at  once  to  give  him 
a  little  certificate  of  character  for  presenta- 
tion to  the  missionary  society  which  had  ac- 
credited him  to  Samoa.  I  have  reason  to 
believe  that  he  did  not  make  use  of  it  on 
his  arrival  in  London;  but  I  had  foreseen  this 
contingency,  and  had  sent  a  copy  of  the  letter 
to  the  secretary  of  the  society.  It  was  as 
follows: 


i34    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

Rev.  A.  B.  C: 

Dear  Sir:  —  In  July  of  last  year  I  returned 
from  Sophia  Island,  and  soon  after  my  arrival  I 
saw  Mataafa  at  Malie  and  advised  him  to  try  to 
comply  with  the  request  of  the  Consuls  and  disband 
the  forces  then  assembled  at  that  place.  My  sug- 
gestions were  followed,  and  the  people  who  had 
assembled  there  in  large  numbers  soon  dispersed. 
Regarding  his  own  personal  movements,  he  said 
that  he  wras  afraid  to  enter  the  municipality  for  fear 
of  treachery,  for  it  was  publicly  reported  that  you 
had  proposed  that  Mr.  Sewall  should  entice  him  to 
Apia  so  that  he  might  be  seized  and  summarily 
dealt  with.  Under  these  circumstances  he  was 
afraid  to  accept  any  assurances  of  safety.  I  had 
heard  the  same  report,  and  I  therefore  could  give 
him  no  advice  as  to  his  personal  movements. 

This  story  to  which  I  have  referred  has  for  many 
months  been  the  common  talk  of  Apia,  and  it  is 
said  to  have  been  a  number  of  times  confirmed  by 
Mr.  Sewall  himself.  It  is  to  the  effect  that  you 
suggested  to  Mr.  Sewall  that  he  should  induce  Ma- 
taafa to  come  to  Apia  under  a  promise  of  safety, 
and  that  while  here  he  should  be  seized.  Mr. 
Sewall  is  said  to  have  replied  that  there  was  one 
great  difficulty  in  the  way,  and  that  was  that  he 
was  a  gentleman  and  could  not  engage  in  any  such 
dishonorable  transaction.  In  reply  to  this,  it  is  said 
that  you  remarked,  "  Oh,  do  it  in  a  way  that  the 


"LIBELLING"  A  MISSIONARY     135 

Germans  will  be  blamed  for  it!  "  Whether  or  not 
this  is  a  correct  report  of  your  interview  with  Mr. 
Sewall  I  do  not  know,  but  it  is  the  version  that  is 
continually  told  in  Apia,  and  which  you  should 
knowT  of. 

Many  people  in  Samoa  look  upon  you  as  a  very 
untrustworthy  person,  and  they  are  glad  to  hear  of 
your  early  departure,  for  it  is  thought  that  your 
political  interferences  have  already  done  much  harm, 
both  to  the  municipality  and  to  the  government. 

A  copy  of  this  letter  will  go  forward  by  the  same 
steamer  as  that  on  which  you  sail  to  the  secretary 
of  the  —  M.  S.,  and  perhaps  you  will  be  asked  to 
explain  some  of  your  actions  here,  especially  the 
story  which  is  the  subject  of  this  letter. 

If  it  is  untrue,  or  not  exactly  as  I  have  related 
it,  you  will  be  able,  no  doubt,  to  get  a  statement 
from  Mr.  Sewall  that  will  put  matters  right  and 
place  your  character  in  a  much  better  position  than 
it  has  occupied  in  Apia  for  a  long  time  back. 

Naturally  enough,  when  Mr.  A.  B.  C. 
reached  London  the  society  called  on  him  for 
an  explanation  and  defense;  and  when  he 
denied  the  truth  of  the  story,  the  society 
wanted  to  know  why  he  had  not  remained 
in  Apia  to  answer  the  charges  made  against 
him.     He  had  gone  away  without  so  much 


136    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

as  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  my  letter; 
and  he  was  informed  that  the  society  could 
not  employ  him  further  in  the  mission  serv- 
ice while  this  thing  was  hanging  over  his 
head.  So  back  he  came  all  the  way  from 
London  to  Apia  full  of  wrath  and  uncharit- 
ableness. 

Stevenson  had  dealt  with  the  subject  in 
his  Footnote  to  History;  and  on  return- 
ing to  Apia,  A.  B.  C.  immediately  called  on 
Mr.  Carruthers  and  ask  him  to  initiate  a  suit 
for  libel  against  both  of  us.  But  Mr. 
Carruthers  informed  him  that  he  was  my 
solicitor  and  could  not  accept  the  case  against 
me;  and  before  A.  B.  C.  had  time  to  get  hold 
of  Mr.  Cooper,  the  only  other  solicitor  in 
the  place,  I  had  retained  him  on  behalf  of 
Stevenson.  Now  the  strange  part  about  it 
is  that  the  only  copy  of  the  Footnote  to 
History  in  Samoa  was  in  the  possession  of 
A.  B.  C,  who  had  obtained  it  while  he  was 
away.  No  copy  had  up  to  that  time  reached 
the  author,  as  we  find  him  complaining  to  his 


"  LIBELLING"  A  MISSIONARY     137 

publishers  in  these  terms :  "  It  is  now  as 
you  see  the  19th  of  October,  and  there  has 
not  reached  the  island  of  Upolu  one  single 
copy  or  rag  of  a  copy.  I  lie;  there  has  come 
one,  and  that  in  the  pocket  of  a  missionary  man 
who  is  at  daggers  drawn  with  me,  who  lends 
it  to  all  my  enemies,  conceals  it  from  all  my 
friends,  and  is  bringing  a  law  suit  against 
me  on  the  strength  of  the  expression  in  the 
same,  which  I  have  forgotten,  and  now  can- 
not see.  This  is  pretty  tragic,  I  think  you 
will  allow!  " 

Two  of  the  missionaries  called  on  me  one 
afternoon,  and  at  their  request  I  told  them 
all  I  knew  about  the  matter.  They  hated 
the  idea  of  going  into  court  if  it  could  pos- 
sibly be  avoided.  I  told  them  I  believed 
the  story  to  be  true  and  held  the  view  that 
Mr.  A.  B.  C.  was  not  the  class  of  man  to 
be  a  missionary.  I  would  not  take  anything 
back,  and  I  told  them  I  did  not  think  Mr. 
Stevenson  would,  either.  The  missionaries 
thanked  me  for  the  information  I  had  sup- 


138    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

plied  them  with  and  said  they  would  see  Mr. 
Stevenson.  For  their  part,  they  said  they 
were  men  of  peace  and  reiterated  that  it 
would  be  a  pity  if  the  case  got  into  court. 

They  went  straightway  to  Stevenson,  and 
next  day  they  came  back  to  me  with  this 
proposition :  "  We  are  willing  to  call  into 
Apia  all  our  white  missionaries  who  are  liv- 
ing in  the  Samoan  group,  and  we  are  willing 
that  they  should  hear  all  that  you  and  Mr. 
Stevenson  have  to  say  at  the  mission  house, 
as  well  as  any  witnesses  you  may  desire  to 
call.  We  are  willing  to  bring  Mr.  A.  B. 
C.  before  them  to  hear  all  that  he  has  to 
say.  You  and  Mr.  Stevenson  may  ask  Mr. 
A.  B.  C.  all  the  questions  you  like,  while  we 
and  Mr.  A.  B.  C.  may  ask  you  and  your 
witnesses  all  the  questions  we  like.  We  are 
willing  to  take  all  the  testimony  down  faith- 
fully and  accurately  and  submit  it  to  the 
society.  Further,  we  are  willing  to  guar- 
antee that  there  will  be  no  action  at  law,  pro- 
vided that  you   agree   to   apologize  to   Mr. 


"  LIBELLING  "  A  MISSIONARY     139 

A.  B.  C.  in  the  event  of  the  society  consider- 
ing, after  having  perused  the  evidence,  that 
the  charges  are  unfounded.  If  the  society 
considers  Mr.  A.  B.  C.  guilty,  he  will,  of 
course,  retire  from  the  society's  service." 

We  agreed  to  this  as  being  a  fair  proposal, 
and  we  attended  before  the  missionaries  in 
due  course,  taking  no  lawyers  with  us.  We 
were  treated  with  the  utmost  fairness.  As 
far  as  my  recollection  goes,  Mr.  Stevenson 
said  that  the  rumor  was  a  current  one  and 
he  had  believed  and  still  believed  it.  Mr. 
Blacklock,  acting  Consul  for  the  United 
States,  was  called,  and  stated  that  Mr. 
Sewall  had  told  him  substantially  what  I  had 
written  in  my  letter  to  Mr.  A.  B.  C,  adding 
that  Mr.  Sewall  was  furious  at  such  a  proposi- 
tion having  been  made  to  him.  Mr.  Harper, 
employed  at  the  consulate,  as  secretary  to  Mr. 
Sewall,  testified  that  he  sat  in  the  adjoining 
room  and  heard  every  word  of  the  conversa- 
tion distinctly.  Mr.  Sewall  had  unfortu- 
nately left  Apia  and  was  not  present.     The 


i4o    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

evidence  was  taken  down  carefully  and  read 
over  to  us,  and  I  have  no  doubt  it  was  all 
submitted  to  the  society  in  London. 

In  the  course  of  time  Stevenson  and  my- 
self each  received  a  communication  from  the 
society,  intimating  that  Mr.  Sewall  had  been 
asked  to  give  an  account  of  what  had  oc- 
curred, and  a  copy  of  his  letter  was  for- 
warded to  us.     It  was  as  follows: 

Bath,  Maine,  U.S.A.,  Dec.  13,  1892. 
Rev.  Wardlaw  Thompson,  14  Bloomfield  St.,  Lon- 
don, E.C. 

Sir  :  — I  have  been  requested  by  Rev.  S ,  on 

behalf  of  the  members  of  the  Mission  in  Samoa,  to 
write  you  in  reference  to  a  matter  of  which  you 
have  doubtless  been  notified.  A  controversy  has 
arisen  whether  Mr.  A.B.C.  of  the  Mission  in  Sa- 
moa once  made  a  certain  suggestion  to  me,  which 
has  been  quoted  by  Mr.  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  in 
his  recently  published  work,  A  Footnote  to  His- 
tory, and  in  different  language  by  Mr.  Moors,  of 
Apia,  in  a  letter  to  the  directors  of  your  society,  a 
copy  of  which  and  a  copy  of  a  statement  made  by 
Mr.  A.B.C.  before  a  committee  of  investigation  in 

Apia  reached  me  with  Mr.  S 's  communication. 

Mr.  A.B.C.  denies  having  said  what  is  imputed  to 


"  LIBELLING  "  A  MISSIONARY     141 

him,  and  the  question  thus  raised  is  so  serious,  af- 
fecting as  it  does  the  good  name  of  everybody  con- 
cerned, that  I  do  not  hesitate  to  comply  at  once  with 
Mr.  S 's  request. 

On  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  July,  1891,  Mr. 
A.B.C.  called  upon  me  at  my  office  in  Samoa  and 
was  received  by  me  in  my  private  room,  where  an 
interview  followed,  lasting  I  should  think  an  hour. 
The  report  of  this  as  given  by  Mr.  A.B.C.  in  his 
statement  is  correct  as  far  as  it  goes.  Indeed,  he 
reports  it  much  more  fully  than  I  could  have  done. 
He  does  not  report,  however,  what  most  impressed 
me  and  the  only  part  which  need  be  noticed  here. 
To  understand  this,  the  following  preliminary  state- 
ment is  necessary,  and  this,  as  Mr.  A.B.C.  states,  is 
the  only  interview  to  which  the  story  could  be 
traced. 

Three  days  before,  on  the  5th,  I  had  addressed  a 
letter  to  Mataafa,  urging  him  to  return  to  Apia  as 
he  promised  to  do,  and  warning  him  of  what  I 
feared  would  be  the  consequence  of  his  refusal  to 
do  so.  I  do  not  remember  whether  I  wrote  that 
he  would  not  be  molested  if  he  acted  in  accordance 
with  my  advice  and  request,  but  this  was  certainly 
implied,  and  I  am  positive  that  I  had  received  from 
Baron  von  Pilsach  for  the  government,  assurances 
of  his  safe  conduct  and  return,  or  fully  believed  that 
I  had  done  so. 

As  Mr.  A.B.C.  states,  our  talk  turned  at  once  to 


142    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

Mataafa.  After  dismissing  as  impracticable  several 
schemes  for  getting  him  out  of  the  country,  Mr. 
A.B.C.  suggested  that  he  might  be  seized  in  Apia. 
It  is  difficult  at  this  time  to  recall  the  exact  lan- 
guage, but  to  the  best  of  my  recollection  this  is  what 
was  said.  I  replied  that  Mataafa  certainly  could 
not  be  seized  if  he  returned  in  response  to  my  letter 
and  that  I  would  resist  any  attempt  of  the  govern- 
ment to  do  so,  for  whether  in  words  or  not  I  had 
pledged  my  honor.  To  this  Mr.  A.B.C.  replied: 
"It  need  not  be  said  that  you  did  it.  You  will  be 
only  one  of  many  " —  and  more  to  this  effect.  I 
said  I  could  not  listen  to  such  sentiments  and  ex- 
pressed my  surprise  that  they  should  come  from  him, 
and  the  interview  terminated.  The  subject  was 
never  again  mentioned  between  us.  Being  a  private 
conversation  it  would  not  have  been  mentioned  by 
me  at  all,  but  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  A.B.C.  seemed 
to  me  so  wicked  and  immoral,  that  I  felt  that  the 
public  good  justified,  indeed  required,  me  to  make 
the  statements  which  I  did,  repeating  it  to  Mr. 
Stevenson,  Mr.  Blacklock  and  I  think  Mr.  Harper. 
Mr.  A.B.C.  did  not  seek  to  have  me  entice  Ma- 
taafa to  Apia,  for  I  had  already  written  my  letter 
which  was  my  last  effort  in  that  direction.  I  am 
quite  ready  to  endorse  Mr.  A.B.C.'s  statement  that 
he  had  no  thought  in  his  mind  of  carrying  me  to 
any  such  proposition  as  he  afterwards  made.  The 
object  of  his  call,  as  he  stated  it,  was  to  confer  with 


"  LIBELLING  "  A  MISSIONARY     143 

me  regarding  the  appointment  of  the  natives'  ad- 
vocate; next  in  his  mind  he  seemed  to  have  the 
advisability  of  a  combined  attack  by  the  Powers  on 
Mataafa  at  Malie. 

The  idea  that  Mataafa  should  be  seized  at  Apia 
apparently  came  to  him  only  incidentally  during 
the  conversation,  and  I  can  understand  now  in  the 
case  of  one  who  could  make  such  a  suggestion  it 
might  not  have  impressed  itself  on  his  mind  as  it  did 
on  mine.  I  would  even  be  ready  to  say  therefore 
that  after  so  long  a  time  he  might  honestly  have 
forgotten  it,  had  he  not  reported  so  accurately  the 
other  leading  points  in  our  interview,  concerning 
which  I  did  not  speak  with  half  the  emphasis  that  I 
did  on  this. 

I  am  sir, 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

Harold  M.  Sewall. 

Mr.  A.  B.  C.  had  gone  back  to  England 
before  the  communication  from  the  society 
arrived,  and  he  did  not  turn  up  again.  Cer- 
tainly no  apology  was  ever  made  to  him. 
Stevenson  was  elated  when  Sewall's  letter 
reached  us,  for  he  had  a  great  aversion  to 
the  law  in  all  its  branches  and  aspects.  I 
told  him  that  I  had  been  sued  and  had  sued 


i44    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

so  many  times  that  a  libel  case  had  no  terrors 
for  me,  especially  when  I  felt  convinced  that 
we  were  bound  to  win;  but  though  this  seemed 
to  brace  him  up  a  little  bit,  his  health  about 
that  time  was  far  from  what  it  should  have 
been,  and  I  really  believe  it  was  this  sword 
of  Damocles  that  was  hanging  over  his  head 
that  was  responsible  for  it.  Here  is  a  copy 
of  a  letter  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Carruthers: 

Jan.  24th,  1893. 
Dear  Mr.  Carruthers: 

Herewith  a  cheque  for  the  amount  of  your  bill. 
Many  thanks  for  the  news.  I  enclose,  as  I  think  it 
will  interest  you,  a  copy  of  Sewall's  letter  to  Ward- 
law  Thompson.  When  you  have  glanced  at  it 
please  hand  it  to  Haggard.  I  am  still  on  the  mend, 
but  with  deliberation. 

Yours  very  truly, 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 


Y~ 


U*  \$<\) 


KW~^—  -   VA*~    jv-  ^ 


CHAPTER  XIII 

BRIEFING   THE   NOVELIST. 

His  aversion  towards  the  law  was  a  life- 
long trait  in  Stevenson's  character  —  and  this 
in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  he  had  qualified  for 
the  bar  in  Edinburgh.  He  was  admitted  to 
practice,  but  he  did  not  get  much  further  than 
that,  for  he  told  me  that  he  had  only  had  one 
case. 

;  There  are  some  cases,"  he  said,  with  a 
smile,  when  I  asked  him  what  it  was  about, 
"  that  it  is  necessary  to  keep  '  alive.'  These 
cases  have  always  been  before  the  courts,  and 
it  is  intended  that  they  always  shall  be." 

He  had  appeared  to  '  wake  "  a  claim. 
Some  elderly  person  of  weak  mind,  I  think 
he  said,  was  concerned  in  it;  and  it  was  neces- 
sary for  somebody  to  go  before  the  court  at 

145 


146    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

stated  intervals  to  represent  this  person  and 
"  make  a  motion,"  or  something  of  the  kind. 
This  was  merely  done  in  order  to  revive  the 
claim  and  the  motion  was  always  granted. 
Such  was  the  case  in  which  Stevenson  ap- 
peared. He  said  he  was  very  nervous  and 
felt  quite  incompetent  to  deal  with  it,  simple 
as  it  was.  However,  he  managed  to  "  make 
a  motion  "  of  some  kind  or  other,  and  as 
it  was  granted  he  believed  he  had  succeeded 
in  his  object.  But  he  never  wanted  to  go 
before  a  court  again,  either  as  advocate,  plain- 
tiff or  defendant. 

His  agitated  state  of  mind  when  threatened 
with  a  libel  suit  in  Apia  may  therefore  be 
readily  imagined;  and  it  was  an  amusing 
sight  to  see  him  throwing  his  cap  in  the  air 
like  a  big  schoolboy  when  I  told  him  how  I 
had  outwitted  A.  B.  C.  by  retaining  the  two 
lawyers.  He  was  yet,  however,  to  have 
other  experiences  with  the  law  in  Samoa;  and, 
truth  to  tell,  it  was  a  fearful  and  wonderful 
law  that  we  had  in  those   days,   enough  to 


BRIEFING  THE  NOVELIST    147 

scare  most  men.  The  strange  part  about  it 
was  that  he  was  always  courting  the  dangers 
of  law;  a  man  of  sudden  impulses,  he  would 
rush  in  where  angels  might  well  fear  to  tread, 
and  trust  to  Providence  to  preserve  him. 
For  instance,  there  was  that  famous  open  let- 
ter he  wrote  while  in  Sydney  to  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Flyde,  a  Presbyterian  clergyman  in  Honolulu 
in  answer  to  the  attack  on  Father  Damien, 
of  the  Molokai  leper  mission.  He  fully  ex- 
pected when  he  sat  down  and  wrote  that 
fierce  defense  of  Damien  that  he  would  land 
himself  in  a  libel  suit  and  possibly  lose  a 
large  sum  of  money;  yet  nothing  could  deter 
him  from  pursuing  the  course  he  believed 
to  be  right.  This  open  letter  was  afterwards 
reprinted  in  pamphlet  form.  Such  satire 
and  sarcasm,  such  fierce  invective,  I  have 
rarely  met  with.  But  Hyde  made  no  reply 
that  I  remember,  though  I  think  that  some 
of  his  friends  rallied  to  his  support,  pointing 
out  particularly  that  the  attack  on  Father 
Damien    was    contained    in    a    private    letter 


148    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

and  was  published  without  the  author's  au- 
thority.    There  was  no  action  for  libel. 

On  one  occasion  Stevenson  was  himself  re- 
tained as  an  advocate,  so  that  he  might  be 
saved  from  the  trying  ordeal  of  being  called 
to  give  evidence,  of  which  possibility  he  was 
peculiarly  afraid.  A  half-caste  Britisher 
named  Yandall,  who  had  acted  as  a  sort  of 
interpreter  for  him,  was  charged  with  having 
committed  an  offense  against  Her  Brittanic 
Majesty's  Orders-in-Council  for  the  Western 
Pacific.  Acting  now  as  his  own  interpreter, 
Stevenson  regarded  this  as  an  attempt  to  "  get 
at '  himself.  It  was  sought  to  prove  that 
this  man  Yandall  had  supplied  Mataafa's  fol- 
lowers at  Malie  with  certain  information 
concerning  the  movements  of  the  Malietoans 
in  Apia;  and  the  fact  that  Stevenson  had  vis- 
ited Mataafa  and  his  people,  made  him  sus- 
picious as  to  the  real  object  of  the  authori- 
ties. 

At  the  time  in  question  Mr.  Cusack-Smith, 
now  Sir  Thomas  Cusack-Smith,  was  British 


BRIEFING  THE  NOVELIST    149 

Consul  in  Samoa,  and  he  was  not  on  the  best 
of  terms  with  Stevenson.  It  had  been  sug- 
gested that  the  latter  himself  had  his  eye  on 
the  Consulship  and  that  he  reported  Mr.  Cu- 
sack-Smith  for  some  alleged  irregularity  or 
misdemeanor.  Color  was  lent  to  this  by  the 
following  paragraph  which  appeared  in  the 
Samoan  Times  of  September  17,   1892: 

We  are  unable  to  ascertain  the  grounds  for  the 
statement  in  the  Auckland  papers  of  the  I Oth  inst., 
that  Mr.  R.  L.  Stevenson  has  been  appointed 
British  Consul  at  Samoa.  Mr.  Cusack-Smith  has 
no  official  notice  of  such  a  step  having  been  taken. 
It  is  quite  probable  that  there  may  be  some  truth  in 
the  report,  however,  as  changes  having  occurred  in 
the  British  Parliament  might  possibly  affect  some 
Consular  appointments.  We  should  be  sorry  to  lose 
our  present  Consul,  even  if  it  were  to  his  advantage 
to  be  removed.  It  is  better  to  have  the  devil  you 
know,  etc. 

Moreover,  in  his  Times  diatribes  Steven- 
son had  not  scrupled  to  include  the  British 
with  the  German  and  United  States  Consuls, 
whose  administration  he  attacked.     He  cer- 


ISO    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

tainly  believed  that  the  Yandall  case  was  a 
trumped-up  affair,  and  that  he  was  the  real 
man  aimed  at,  just  as  he  had  believed  the  "  se- 
dition "  regulation  framed  by  Sir  John 
Thurston  to  be  directed  chiefly  against  him. 

"  I  know  it's  me  they  want  to  get  at,"  he 
said,  somewhat  hysterically  as  he  entered  Mr. 
Carruthers's  office,  "  and  I  know  they'll  want 
to  call  me  as  a  witness.  My  God,  Carruth- 
ers,  if  they  put  me  into  the  witness  box,  I 
don't  know  what  I'll  be  saying  if  I  once  start 
talking." 

The  solicitor  pondered.  Then,  suddenly, 
an  inspiration  came  to  him.  "  I  have  it," 
he  exclaimed.  "  I  know  what  we'll  do. 
First  of  all,  I'll  go  up  and  retain  Cooper,  so 
that  the  other  side  can't  get  him,  and  then  — 
why  man,  we'll  retain  you." 

Stevenson  looked  at  him  aghast. 

Carruthers  smiled.  "  You're  a  barrister, 
you  know ;  and  you  are  entitled  to  practice  in 
our  courts.  If  we  retain  you,  they  will  not 
then  be  able  to  call  you  as  a  witness." 


BRIEFING  THE  NOVELIST    151 

"Bravo!"  shouted  Stevenson,  heartily 
gripping  the  hand  of  this  sharp-witted  lawyer 
who,  needless  to  say,  would  have  adorned 
any  diplomatic  service. 

And  there  and  then  a  brief  was  written 
out  and  handed  across  the  table  to  the  nov- 
elist, retaining  him  as  advocate  for  the  de- 
fense; only  it  was  not  the  ordinary  kind  of 
brief  by  any  means  —  it  was  very  much  more 
brief. 

The  case  for  the  prosecution  was  so  weak, 
and  there  was  no  lawyer  to  add  anything  to 
its  strength,  that  there  could  be  but  one  re- 
sult; Yandall  was  discharged.  Stevenson  did 
not  appear  in  court  at  all;  he  was  afraid  even 
to  be  seen  in  its  precincts,  and  stayed  at  home, 
waiting  anxiously  to  hear  the  result  of  the 
case,  his  solicitor  having  promised  to  let  him 
know  as  soon  as  it  was  over.  But  his  im- 
patience was  too  much  for  him,  and  in  the 
course  of  the  day,  before  the  case  had  been 
disposed  of,  Mr.  Carruthers  received  this 
note  from  him : 


152    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

My  dear  Mr.  Carruthers :  —  What  is  the  result? 
Please  excuse  the  impatience  of  the  client,  and  re- 
member you  are  expected  to  walk  and  dine  on  Sun- 
day with 

Yours  very  truly, 

R.  L.  S. 

"  My  friend,"  said  Stevenson,  when  he 
next  saw  Mr.  Carruthers,  "  I'm  pleased  with 
you.  I'd  like  to  give  you  one  of  my  books; 
which  shall  it  be?  " 

Memories  and  Portraits  was  selected, 
and  in  it  Stevenson  wrote  these  words :  "  R. 
Hetherington  Carruthers,  from  his  client,  in 
memory  of  field  days  and  nights  in   Mata- 


CHAPTER  XIV 

WHEN   MALIETOA   WAS   KING 

Chief  Justice  Cedarkrantz  and  Baron 
Senfft  von  Pilsach,  President  of  the  Munici- 
pal Council  in  Apia,  were  the  two  foreign 
members  of  the  government  appointed  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  Treaty  of  the  Powers  to 
rule  Samoa.  One  was  a  Swede,  the  other  a 
German. 

When,  after  his  arrival  in  1891,  the  Chief 
Justice  held  his  first  great  meeting  of  native 
chiefs,  he  was  told  by  the  majority  that  "  this 
man  Malietoa  Laupepa,  who  sits  by  your 
side,  is  not  the  true  king  of  Samoa ;  we  will 
elect  our  king  according  to  the  provisions 
of  the  Berlin  General  Act."  Then  they 
asked  him  to  set  apart  a  date  for  the  election; 
but  he  evidently  had  some  secret  instructions, 

153 


154    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

for  he  delayed  the  election  from  time  to  time, 
and  ultimately,  after  a  year  of  waiting,  de- 
clared that  there  would  be  no  election  until 
the  death  of  Malietoa. 

Upon  this,  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  afterwards  a  great  many  more,  with- 
drew their  support  from  the  government,  and 
refused  to  pay  taxes.  Cedarkrantz  and  a 
few  Malietoans  were  left  in  state  on  Mulinuu 
Point.  The  court  had  no  jurisdiction  be- 
yond the  municipality  of  Apia,  and  the  gov- 
ernment was  powerless  to  collect  taxes,  serve 
warrants,  or  arrest  offenders.  Stevenson  and 
myself  objected  to  the  government  which  this 
Nebuchadnezzar  had  set  up,  because  we  could 
readily  see  it  would  not  support  itself  and 
that  without  foreign  interference  it  would  fall 
to  the  ground  utterly.  We  desired  that  the 
Samoans  should  start  out  correctly  and  in 
good  spirit  under  a  chosen  ruler,  and  that  then 
if  necessary  the  Powers  should  uphold  that 
leader.  Mataafa  was  clearly  the  choice  of 
the   people,   and  no   one   ever  seriously   dis- 


1 


Faamu,  the  only  daughter  of  the  late  Malieatoa  I   tupepa,  who  was  king 
in  time.      V  a  little  girl,  she  was  one  of  Stevenson 

favorites 


WHEN  MALIETOA  WAS  KING     155 

puted  this.  Subsequent  events  proved  that 
Malietoa  Laupepa,  who  was  assiduously  sup- 
ported by  foreign  sailors  for  several  years, 
became  a  mere  puppet  in  the  hands  of  in- 
terested persons,  and  failed  dismally  as  king, 
even  after  his  chief  opponent  had  been  sub- 
dued and  deported  from  the  realm. 

Under  the  circumstances,  Cedarkrantz 
found  himself  in  a  hopeless  position.  Believ- 
ing that  Stevenson  and  I  were  advising  the  na- 
tives how  to  act,  he  tried  to  obtain  evidence 
with  a  view  to  prosecuting  either  one  or  the 
other,  or  both  of  us,  within  the  municipality, 
over  which  alone  he  had  jurisdiction.  In 
order  to  make  the  position  quite  clear,  I 
will  here  quote  Article  I  of  the  Berlin  Gen- 
eral Act: 

It  is  declared  that  the  islands  of  Samoa  are  neutral 
territory,  in  which  the  citizens  and  subjects  of  the 
three  Signatory  Powers  have  equal  rights  of  resi- 
dence, trade,  and  personal  protection.  The  three 
Powers  recognize  the  independence  of  the  Samoan 
Government ,  and  the  free  right  of  the  natives  to 
elect  their  Chief  or  King  and  choose  their  form  of 


i56    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

Government  according  to  their  oivn  laws  and  cus- 
toms.—  Neither  of  the  Powers  shall  exercise  any 
separate  control  over  the  islands  or  the  Government 
thereof. 

Now  the  Act  also  provided  that  "  in  view 
of  the  difficulties  which  would  surround  an 
election  in  the  present  disordered  condition  of 
government,"  Malietoa  Laupepa  should  for 
the  time  being  be  recognized  as  king,  "  and 
his  successor  shall  be  duly  elected  according 
to  the  laws  and  customs  of  Samoa."     When 
the  Act  was  drafted,  Mataafa  reigned  as  king 
of  Samoa,   Malietoa   having   formally  with- 
drawn and  having  at  a  friendly  public  meet- 
ing given  his  own  adherence  to  his  greater 
and  much  more  manly  kinsman.     On  receipt, 
therefore,  of  this  remarkable  provision  in  the 
Berlin  Treaty  the  Consuls  consulted  as  to  the 
advisability  of  making  it  known  to  the  then 
reigning  king;  but  the  telegraphic  news  came 
openly,  and  they  were  left  no  choice.     It  was 
I   who  was  chiefly  responsible   for   inducing 
Mataafa   to  resign  his  conquests,   and,   as  I 


WHEN  MALIETOA  WAS  KING     157 

thought,  accept  temporarily  a  secondary  po- 
sition —  this  because  I  read  in  the  plain  Eng- 
lish of  the  first  clause  of  the  treaty  that  the 
islands  were  to  be  autonomous  and  the  peo- 
ple were  to  have  free  right  to  elect  their  ruler. 
No  other  settlement,  indeed,  seemed  practical, 
or  even  sane;  and  Mataafa,  intrenched  in 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,  had  no  fear  of 
the  results  of  a  fair  election. 

Peace  was  reigning  in  Samoa  at  this  time; 
but  a  multitude  of  disasters  were  to  spring 
from  this  new  instrument  from  Berlin.  No 
steps  were  taken  towards  the  holding  of  an 
election  for  king;  disorders  were  manufac- 
tured by  the  equivocation  and  delay  of  the 
Chief  Justice  and  the  foreign  officials,  backed 
up  by  some  of  the  Protestant  missionaries. 
Was  it  any  wonder  that  the  "  disordered  con- 
dition of  the  government"  continued?  And 
this  "  disorder,"  consequent  on  their  own 
acts,  was  the  justification  of  the  Consuls  to 
the  Powers  in  continuing  to  support  Malic- 
toa. 


158    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

On  August  22,  1892,  after  returning  from 
a  trip  down  the  coast,  I  had  occasion  to 
write  the  following  letter  to  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice : 

Sir :  — 

I  returned  last  evening  from  a  short  pleasure  trip 
to  Manono  with  some  friends,  having  left  the  island 
at  10  a.  m.  that  day. 

I  hear  from  my  clerk,  Charles  Taylor,  that  dur- 
ing my  absence  you  alternately  endeavored  to  cajole 
and  frighten  him  into  divulging  to  you  the  nature 
of  my  correspondence  with  Mataafa.  Mr.  Taylor 
informs  me  that  you  commanded  him  to  attend  you 
at  2  P.  M.  on  Saturday  last,  and  that  you  told  him 
that  if  you  could  not  get  such  information  as  you 
required  by  coaxing  and  by  promise  of  governmental 
employment  you  would  take  another  and  rougher 
way  to  get  it.  Mr.  Taylor  further  tells  me  that 
he  did  not  go  to  Mulinuu  and  that  he  will  not 
at  your  bidding  emulate  Judas  and  betray  his 
master. 

Since  when  has  it  become  the  duty  of  the  chief 
judge  of  a  country  to  play  spy  and  detective?  And 
how  comes  it  that  you  who  would  be  supposed  to 
hear  and  fairly  judge  any  complaint  that  might  be 
made  against  Mr.  Taylor  or  myself,  are  now  en- 
deavoring to  collect  evidence  to  use  presumedly  in 


WHEN  MALIETOA  WAS  KING     159 

jour  own  court  against  us ?  Another  and  more  dig- 
nified way  exists,  sir,  by  which  to  extract  from  Tay- 
lor the  information  which  you  appear  to  so  much 
desire.  Once  more  look  into  the  Berlin  General 
Act,  and  I  am  sure  that  such  an  inventive  genius 
as  yourself  will  be  able  to  so  construe  it  as  to  fit  the 
case.  Apply  it,  or  one  of  the  laws  "  enacted  "  by 
yourself,  to  poor  Taylor,  and  he  will  be  placed 
upon  his  defense,  and  perhaps  his  employer  will  fur- 
nish him  with  a  copy  of  every  document  which  he 
has  ever  translated  or  handled  for  him.  Your 
knowledge  of  human  nature  is,  sir,  I  fear,  very 
deficient  indeed,  and  I  am  not  at  all  flattered  to 
learn  that  you  place  such  a  low  estimate  on  my 
own  intelligence  as  to  think  that  I  would  place  my- 
self in  the  hands  of  Charles  Taylor  or  any  person 
so  young  and  inexperienced  as  he  is  if  I  were  en- 
gaged in  a  perilous  undertaking. 

Notwithstanding  what  you  or  your  few  adherents 
may  think  to  the  contrary,  I  am  not  the  adviser  of 
the  Mataafa  party,  and  I  again  must  say  that  I 
think  my  reputation  for  good  sense  is  impugned,  for 
I  believe  that  that  party  could  not  act  more  stupidly 
than  they  are  doing,  knowing  as  I  certainly  do  their 
great  strength  and  the  feeling  of  hostility  which 
exists  throughout  the  country  towards  yourself  and 
the  remaining  few  chiefs  on  Mulinuu.  No  one,  sir, 
is  more  surprised  than  I  am  that  Mataafa  has  not 
advanced  long  ago  and  overwhelmed  your  govern- 


160    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

ment  by  sheer  force  of  numbers,  and  without  the 
firing  of  a  shot. 

Regarding  my  trip  to  Manono,  to  which  you 
seemed  to  attach  some  importance,  you  will  find  if 
you  take  the  trouble  to  examine  the  boat's  crew  (all 
Mulinuu  men)  that  at  none  of  the  places  at  which 
we  stopped  were  any  political  questions  discussed, 
and  if  you  further  question  these  men  you  will  find 
that  to  the  westward  of  Malie  and  at  Manono  there 
is  scarcely  a  man  to  be  seen,  everyone  of  importance 
being  at  the  capital  as  they  call  it  (Malie). 

Your  remarks  concerning  Mr.  Stevenson  will,  I 
suppose,  be  related  to  him  by  Mr.  Taylor,  and  I  sup- 
pose that  Mr.  Stevenson  will  attach  as  much  im- 
portance to  them  as  they  deserve,  for  I  am  sure  that 
he  values  your  good  opinion  as  much  as  I  do. 

I  assure  you,  sir,  that  Mr.  Stevenson,  some  others 
and  myself  are  not  likely  to  risk  our  property  and 
our  personal  liberty.  We  may  be  friendly  with 
both  the  Malietoans  and  Mataafas,  and  if  we  do  not 
think  that  your  measures  are  wise  and  just  we  may 
speak  of  them  in  public  or  in  private  and  express 
our  disapproval  of  them  if  we  like,  for  you,  sir,  are 
a  public  servant  and  all  your  public  acts  are  open 
to  criticism. 

It  is  not  our  opposition  that  is  bringing  your 
government  to  its  end ;  it  is  the  want  of  our  support, 
which  we  cannot  give  to  you. 

Respectfully,  etc.,       H.  J.  Moors. 


WHEN  MALIETOA  WAS  KING     161 

I  did  not  see  Stevenson  until  a  week  or 
ten  days  after  I  had  sent  this  letter;  but 
when  he  saw  a  copy  of  it,  he  heartily  coin- 
cided with  every  word  of  it.  The  letter  had 
the  desired  effect,  and  Cedarkrantz  ceased 
from  troubling.  Of  our  little  affair  with  that 
gentleman  Stevenson  wrote  to  his  friend  Mr. 
Colvin : 

There  is  great  talk  in  town  of  my  deportation: 
it  is  thought  they  have  written  home  to  Downing 
Street,  requesting  my  removal,  which  leaves  me  not 
much  alarmed ;  what  I  do  rather  expect  is  that  H. 
J.  Moors  and  I  may  be  haled  up  before  the  C.  J. 
to  stand  a  trial  for  lese-majesty.  Well,  we'll  try 
and  live  it  through. 

Now  I  come  to  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
pieces  of  business  of  which  the  country  has 
any  record.  Under  the  Berlin  General  Act, 
the  town  was  clearly  entitled  to  the  import 
duties,  and  it  had  enjoyed  them  for  several 
years,  the  money  being  spent  on  roads  and 
other  public  improvements.  Subsequent  to 
the  refusal  to  hold  an  election  for  a  king  and 


1 62    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

the  resultant  lack  of  support,  the  government 
which  Cedarkrantz  and  Senfft  von  Pilsach 
were  running,  soon  found  itself  in  a  very  pre- 
carious condition.  The  funds  were  short 
and  no  taxes  could  be  collected.  Under  the 
Treaty,  all  the  rates  collected  from  the  na- 
tives went  towards  the  government  of  the 
land,  those  collected  from  the  whites  towards 
the  upkeep  of  the  municipality,  and,  being  now 
unable  to  collect  money,  how  was  the  gov- 
ernment to  carry  on  ?  In  those  circumstances, 
the  Twins  (as  Stevenson  used  to  call  them) 
looked  with  covetous  eyes  on  the  evergrowing 
funds  of  the  municipality,  and  finally  con- 
spired together  to  make  use  of  them.  Baron 
von  Pilsach  was  President  of  the  Council  and 
Treasurer  in  one. 

One  of  the  first  things  they  did  was  to  ab- 
stract surreptitiously  from  the  municipal 
treasury  a  sum  exceeding  three  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  with  this  they  purchased  the  only 
newspaper  in  the  town,  the  Samoa  Times  and 
South  Sea  Advertiser.     Up  to  this  time  the 


WHEN  MALIETOA  WAS  KING     163 

journal  had  been  fairly  impartial;  but  after  it 
was  purchased  by  the  government  the  old 
editor  went  away  and  a  new  one  —  a  man 
who  had  been  some  time  in  Apia,  "  waiting 
for  something  to  turn  up  " —  took  control, 
and  the  paper  was  run  to  suit  the  purposes 
of  Cedarkrantz  and  von  Pilsach.  These  two 
gentlemen,  as  Stevenson  said,  now  behaved 
in  a  manner  worthy  of  characters  in  comic 
opera.  Without  the  knowledge  of  the  coun- 
cil, von  Pilsach  privately  instituted  a  suit,  in 
his  capacity  as  adviser  to  the  king,  against  the 
municipality  to  obtain  control  of  the  funds, 
amounting  in  all  to  about  twenty  thousand 
dollars.  Chief  Justice  Cedarkrantz  heard 
the  case.  Von  Pilsach  appeared  on  behalf 
of  the  king;  the  Municipal  Council  was  repre- 
sented by  —  von  Pilsach.  The  Baron  argued 
in  favor  of  the  plaintiff;  the  Baron  presented 
the  case  for  the  defendant.  The  Chief  Jus- 
tice listened  patiently  to  what  von  Pilsach 
had  to  say  on  behalf  of  the  king;  he  turned 
to  hear  what  the  same  learned  counsel  had  to 


1 64    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

say  for  the  municipality;  and  he  then  left  the 
court  to  write  a  decision  diametrically  op- 
posed to  his  own  verbal  dictum  given  at  a 
Council  meeting  a  short  time  previously. 

All  this  took  place  without  a  single  soul 
connected  with  the  municipal  government  of 
the  town  knowing  anything  about  it;  and 
when  it  did  become  known,  wonderment,  sur- 
prise and  incredulity  were  succeeded  by  an 
open  revolt.  A  special  meeting  of  the  Coun- 
cil was  held  —  Baron  von  Pilsach,  as  Presi- 
dent, being  in  the  chair !  —  and  the  excite- 
ment ran  so  high  that  many  of  the  general 
public  attended  to  watch  developments.  All 
business  in  the  town  was  practically  sus- 
pended. As  a  member  of  the  Council,  I  told 
our  President  what  I  thought  of  him  to  his 
face;  so  indignant  was  I  that  I  was  barely 
able  to  restrain  myself  from  assaulting  him. 
So  enraged  were  the  people  also,  that  any 
step  against  the  President  would,  I  was  as- 
sured, receive  their  support. 

Confronting  the  President  I  said:  "  I  move 


WHEN  MALIETOA  WAS  KING     165 

that  this  Council  has  no  confidence  in  your 
integrity." 

The  motion  was  seconded  by  almost  every 
member  at  once :  but  the  President  took  ob- 
jection to  it,  and  not  only  did  he  refuse  to 
put  it  to  the  meeting  "  as  being  of  a  personal 
character,"  but  he  abruptly  adjourned  the  pro- 
ceedings, amid  scenes  of  wild  disorder. 

A  couple  of  hours  afterwards  a  bellman 
was  sent  around,  with  the  following  large 
placard  on  his  breast: 

PUBLIC  MEETING. 

All  citizens  are  requested  to  attend  a  public  meet- 
ing in  the  Apia  public  hall  at  4  P.  M.  Business:  to 
consider  the  proposed  appropriation  of  the  municipal 
funds  by  the  Samoan  Government. 

Stevenson,  who  at  all  times  took  great  in- 
terest in  public  affairs,  was  not  present  at  this 
meeting,  for  it  was  hurriedly  convened  and  he 
had  no  notice  of  it,  being  at  Vailima  at  the 
time.  Shortly  after  the  meeting,  however,  he 
turned  up  at  my  office,  and  I  told  him  what 
had  happened.     It  was  proposed  to  seize  the 


1 66    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

municipal  treasury  and  place  it  under  guard, 
and  further  to  remove  Cedarkrantz  and  von 
Pilsach  forcibly  by  ourselves  assuming  all 
responsibility  and  carrying  on  the  government 
until  such  time  as  the  Consuls  communicated 
the  situation  to  the  Powers.  I  was  Chair- 
man of  the  Board  of  Works,  and  having 
most  to  do  with  the  expenditure  of  the  mu- 
nicipal funds  it  was  but  natural  that  I  should 
be  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  revolutionary 
movement. 

The  foreign  Consuls,  including  the  Ger- 
man, sided  with  the  Council.  In  fact,  I 
think  the  British  Consul  must  have  had  some 
idea  of  what  was  going  on  behind  the  scenes, 
because  some  two  weeks  before  the  denoue- 
ment he  had  advised  me  to  spend  the  munic- 
ipal funds  as  rapidly  as  possible.  "  Let  there 
be  no  dissensions  in  your  Council  as  to  the 
manner  of  spending  the  money,"  he  said, 
"  just  spend  it  as  quickly  as  you  can." 

Stevenson  and  I  agreed  upon  a  basis  of 
action.     For  one  thing  it  was  definitely  de- 


WHEN  MALIETOA  WAS  KING     167 

cided  to  seize  the  funds,  provided  we  could 
obtain  a  fair  amount  of  support.  He  then 
sat  down  at  my  desk  and  wrote  in  pencil  the 
following  proclamation  and  letters,  which  I 
then  had  typed: 

PROCLAMATION ! 

The  undersigned  members  of  the  Municipal 
Council  of  Apia  appeal  to  all  good  citizens: 

( 1 )  In  the  agitated  state  of  feeling  in  this  town, 
the  funds  entrusted  to  their  care  are  felt  to  be  in 
danger.  They  have  accordingly  placed  the  Mu- 
nicipal Building  under  the  protection  of  Volunteer 
Guards;  and  should  these  be  molested,  an  alarm 
bell  will  be  sounded  from  the  veranda,  and  all  good 
citizens  are  requested  to  assemble  immediately  at 
the  Municipal  Building  prepared  to  preserve  order. 

(2)  Payment  from  the  Municipal  Treasury  is 
for  the  present  suspended. 

(3)  Mr.   Otto  Martin  has  been   granted  leave 

of  absence,  and  Mr.  has  been  appointed  per 

interim  to  receive  all  taxes,  licenses,  import  and 
export  duties,  which  may  fall  to  be  collected  under 
the  BERLIN  TREATY,  until  the  present  diffi- 
culty has  been  satisfactorily  arranged. 


1 68    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

S.  von  Pilsach,  Esq.,  President  of  the  Municipal 
Council: 

The  undersigned  members  of  the  Municipal 
Council  of  Apia  present  their  compliments  to  the 
President. 

In  view  of  the  disturbed  state  of  feeling  in  Apia, 
they  have  placed  the  Municipal  Building  and  Safe 
under  armed  guards.  All  payment  is  suspended; 
and  it  is  not  intended  that  the  Safe  shall  be  opened 
until  it  be  so  (in  the  presence  of  the  Consuls  if 
possible)  for  the  purpose  of  verification. 

To  the  Consular  Board  of  Apia: 

The  undersigned  members  of  the  Municipal 
Council  beg  to  lay  before  the  Consular  Board  the 
enclosed  copies  of  a  Proclamation  to  the  public 
and  a  letter  to  Baron  S.  von  Pilsach,  President. 

It  is  explained  that  the  Councillors  are  affected 
with  a  sense  of  their  responsibility  to  their  con- 
stituents; that  the  state  of  public  feeling  on  the 
occasion  of  the  last  meeting  appeared  on  the  one 
hand  alarmingly  violent,  that  on  the  other  the 
Councillors  have  received  information,  possibly  in- 
exact, that  the  funds  for  which  they  are  answer- 
able have  been  already  tampered  with;  and  that 
they  have  decided  accordingly  to  protect  their 
building,  suspend  payment,  and  forbid  access  to  the 
safe  until  a  verification  of  its  contents  can  be  made, 
if  possible,  in  the  presence  of  the  Consular  Board. 


WHEN  MALIETOA  WAS  KING     169 

It  is  hoped  that  these  steps,  directed  solely  to 
the  preservation  of  public  order,  and  in  defence  of 
their  own  responsibility  at  a  period  of  competing 
judicial  decisions  and  unexpected  claims  for  ar- 
rears, will  meet  the  approval  of  the  Consular  Board. 

In  addition,  the  following  communication 
was  addressed  to  Malietoa  Laupepa,  whom 
we  were  obliged  to  recognize  as  King  of  Sa- 
moa : 

Your  Majesty: 

The  undersigned  members  of  the  Municipal 
Council  beg  to  lay  before  your  consideration  the 
enclosed  documents,  translations  of  which  will  be 
forwarded  to  you  later  in  the  day. 

The  steps  mentioned  therein  are  taken  with  re- 
spect under  a  sense  of  responsibility,  and  in  the  fear 
that  the  moneys  contributed  by  their  constituents 
have  been  or  may  be  tampered  with.  In  the  sus- 
pension of  payment  mentioned,  it  is  explained  that 
your  Majesty's  civil  list  will  be  made  the  subject 
of  special  consideration.  The  desire  which  ani- 
mates the  Councillors  is  to  perform  the  duty  with 
which  they  conceive  themselves  to  be  entrusted, 
nowise  to  interfere  with  the  functions  or  conven- 
ience of  your  Majesty. 

In  conclusion,  they  beg  to  remark  that  they  arc 
many   of  them   old   residents   in    Samoa   who   have 


170    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

long  proved  their  interests  in  that  country,  and  to 
pray  that  in  all  that  regards  the  present  regrettable 
difficulty  the  advice  of  the  Consuls  of  the  three 
Powers  may  be  solicited  and  well  considered  by 
your  Majesty. 

But  nothing  was  done  with  either  the  proc- 
lamation or  the  letters,  for  we  could  not  get 
sufficient  support.  When  it  came  to  the 
point,  nearly  all  the  members  of  the  Council 
backed  out,  afraid  lest  it  should  in  the  future 
react  on  them.  I  took  soundings,  and  was 
compelled  to  inform  Stevenson  that  no  one 
could  be  depended  on  if  troubles  assailed  us. 
"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  guess  you  and  I  will 
have  to  be  the  whole  revolution,  if  we  go  on 
with  it." 

He  was  very  disappointed;  but  it  afforded 
him  another  opportunity  of  noting  what  a 
strange  and  complex  thing  is  man.  Here  we 
had  a  number  of  prominent  people  whose 
braggadocio  was  enough  to  have  conquered 
the  world,  if  talk  and  threats  could  do  it, 
but  who,  when  it  came  to  acting,  slunk  ig- 
nominiously  out  of  sight. 


O 

& 


WHEN  MALIETOA  WAS  KING     171 

To  Andrew  Lang,  my  friend  wrote  these 
words  bearing  on  this  little  episode  in  his 
life:  "  It  is  a  grind  to  be  interrupted  by  mid- 
night messengers,  and  pass  your  days  writing 
proclamations  (which  are  never  proclamated) 
and  petitions  (which  ain't  petited)  and  letters 
to  the  Times,  which  it  makes  my  jaws  yawn 
to  re-read." 

Those  Times  letters!  What  a  rumpus 
there  was!  What  confusion!  And  what  a 
squirming  on  the  part  of  the  bought-and-paid- 
for  Samoa  Times,  to  which  important  journal 
it  seemed  "  rather  amusing  that  we  have  to 
go  to  London  to  obtain  the  utterances  and 
sentiments  of  one  who  lives  amongst  us  in 
Samoa."  Not  only  had  the  Samoa  Times  to 
defend  the  derelict  officials;  it  had  to  try  to 
exonerate  itself;  and  on  November  12,  1892, 
it  printed  this  piece  of  news:  "  The  interested 
persons  who  are  continually  stating  that  we 
are  a  government  organ  lie  — -  under  a  grave 
error.  As  we  have  said  before,  -vce  are  the 
proprietor,  and  are  not  in  any  way  inspired 


172    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

by  Samoan  government  officials."  The  per- 
son who  called  himself  we  was  entirely  with- 
out funds  and  had  arrived  in  Apia  in  very 
precarious  circumstances.  The  only  result  of 
his  appearance  on  the  scene  was  to  damn  all 
possible  progress.  From  the  beginning  he 
was  entirely  discredited,  and  the  citizens  soon 
mustered  sufficient  money  to  start  a  new  and 
independent  organ,  the  Weekly  Herald,  the 
first  leader  for  which  was  written  by  Steven- 
son. 

Among  other  things  the  Samoa  Times 
stoutly  resented  the  reflections  of  the  London 
Times  on  "  the  diplomatic  instrument  forged 
at  Berlin;  "  and  it  joyously  published  the  fol- 
lowing item  of  news  from  that  city :  "  The 
Vossiche  Zeitung  considers  the  Samoan  Con- 
vention a  great  mistake  and  that  the  position 
there  is  untenable.  It  suggests  the  complete 
disarming  of  the  natives  and  the  arrest  of  the 
white  residents  who  meddle  in  internal  affairs, 
including  Mr.  R.  L.  Stevenson,  the  novelist." 

The  only  letter  which  Stevenson  honored 


WHEN  MALIETOA  WAS  KING     173 

the  editor  of  the  government  organ  with 
during  the  whole  course  of  the  trouble  was 
this: 

Sir: 

I  have  to  ask  you  to  find  space  for  a  correction. 
I  have  never  in  any  of  my  letters  to  the  Times  or 
elsewhere,  had  occasion  to  criticise  unfavorably  the 
officers  of  the  German  Empire  at  this  place. 

I  am,  etc., 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 
Vailima,  Nov.  18,  1892. 

The  absolute  ludicrousness  of  the  situation 
in  Samoa  is  best  shown  by  quoting  from  one 
of  Stevenson's  last  letters  to  the  Times: 

The  government  by  the  Berlin  General  Act  is  no 
more  than  a  mask,  and  a  very  expensive  one,  for 
the  government  of  the  Consular  Triumvirate.  Sa- 
moa pays  (or  tries  to  pay)  £2,200  a  year  to  a  couple 
of  helpers;  and  they  dare  not  call  their  souls  their 
own.  They  take  their  walks  abroad  with  an  anx- 
ious eye  on  the  three  Consuls,  like  two  well  be- 
haved children  with  three  nurses;  and  the  Consuls, 
smiling  superior,  allow  them  to  amuse  themselves 
with  the  routine  of  business.  But  let  trouble 
come,  and  the  farce  is  suspended.  At  the  whistle 
of  a  squall,   these  heaven-born   mariners  seize  the 


174    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

tiller,  and  the  £2,200  amateurs  are  knocked  sprawl- 
ing on  the  bilge!     .     .     . 

Government  by  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  was  still 
erect  when  one  fine  morning  in  walked  the  three 
Consuls,  totally  uninvited,  with  a  proclamation 
prepared  and  signed  by  themselves,  without  any 
mention  of  anybody  else.  They  had  woke  to  a 
sense  of  the  danger  of  the  situation  and  their  own 
indispensable  merits.  The  two  children  now 
thought  their  day  was  over;  the  nurses  had  come 
for  them.  Who  can  blame  them  for  their  timidity? 
The  Consuls  have  the  ears  of  the  governments ;  they 
are  the  authors  of  those  despatches  of  which  in  the 
ripeness  of  time  Blue-books  and  White-books  are 
made  up;  they  had  dismissed  (with  some  assistance 
from  yourself)  MM.  Cedarkrantz  and  von  Senfft, 
and  they  had  strangled,  like  an  illegitimate  child, 
the  scandal  of  the  dynamite. 

It  was  with  obvious  joy  that  Stevenson 
wrote  to  Mr.  J.  M.  Barrie,  "  In  conjunction 
with  the  Three  Great  Powers,  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  rid  of  My  President  and 
My  Chief  Justice.  They've  gone  home,  the 
one  to  Germany,  the  other  to  Souwegie." 

The  "  scandal  of  the  dynamite  '  that  is 
referred  to  in  the  letter  quoted  was  nothing 


WHEN  MALIETOA  WAS  KING     175 

less  than  a  proposal  to  blow  up  a  number  of 
native  prisoners  in  the  jail  (which  at  that 
time  was  situated  immediately  at  the  back  of 
the  site  of  the  present  court  house)  in  the 
event  of  a  raid  on  the  town  which  Mataafa 
was  supposed  to  be  planning.  Had  an  ex- 
plosion taken  place  not  only  would  the  prison- 
ers have  been  blown  to  atoms,  but  great  dam- 
age would  have  been  done  to  the  whole  neigh- 
borhood, without  the  least  benefit  to  the  Ma- 
lietoans. 


CHAPTER  XV 


Samoa's  "  grand  old  man." 


When  the  war  of  1893  broke  out  I  was  in 
Chicago;  and  while  in  that  city  I  received  a 
letter  from  Stevenson,  describing  the  com- 
bined operations  of  the  foreign  warships  and 
the  Malietoans  against  Mataafa.  I  had  rea- 
son to  be  thankful,  he  wrote,  that  I  had  been 
spared  the  sight  of  Mataafa's  downfall  and 
the  humiliations  which  he  suffered  at  the 
hands  of  ungrateful  Samoans  and  interested 
foreigners.  He  added  that  he  could  not  help 
thinking  that  had  I  been  in  the  country  I 
would  have  found  a  way  of  averting  the  war. 

Mataafa  surrendered,  and  was  deported 
to  Jaluit  in  the  Marshall  Islands,  together 
with  about  a  dozen  of  his  highest  chiefs;  a 
large   number   of  other  chiefs  were   thrown 

176 


SAMOA'S  "  GRAND  OLD  MAN  "  177 

into  jail.  Malietoa  was  set  up  as  king,  with 
the  blare  of  trumpets  and  all  the  pomp  and 
circumstance  of  kingship.  Flags  were  hoisted 
and  salutes  were  fired;  the  usual  consular  visits 
took  place;  and  Malietoa  Laupepa  was  pro- 
claimed undisputed  King  of  Samoa. 

It  was  a  mockery.  This  king  with  great- 
ness thrust  violently  upon  him  found  him- 
self absolutely  unable  to  collect  a  tax  of  any 
sort.  The  only  possible  way  in  which  he 
could  have  got  in  his  revenues  was  by  utilizing 
the  men-of-war  as  tax-gatherers.  So  de- 
tested was  this  makeshift  ruler  that  in  a  few 
months  Tamasese  the  younger  revolted,  rais- 
ing the  standard  of  rebellion  in  the  eastern 
districts  of  the  island  of  Upolu.  Profiting, 
by  the  disasters  that  had  befallen  Mataafa, 
owing  to  the  interference  of  the  foreign  Pow- 
ers, Tamasese  remained  in  the  fastnesses  of 
the  main  island  where  the  warships  could  not 
harm  him,  and  he  did  not  make  peace  until 
after  he  had  inflicted  some  smarting  defeats 
on  the  Malietoans  and  the  terms  were  to  his 


178    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

satisfaction.  But  even  when  peace  was  made 
the  Samoans  as  a  whole  declined  to  pay  any 
taxes  to  the  Malietoa  government,  and  they 
never  did  so  till  the  day  of  Malietoa's  demise. 
There  was  very  little  lamentation  over  his 
sudden  end,  and  the  circumstances  of  his 
burial  were  of  the  most  modest  character. 

Throughout,  Stevenson  strongly  supported 
Mataafa;  and  I  believe  that  if  it  had  not 
been  for  the  novelist's  death,  this  old  man  — 
thrice  elected  King  of  Samoa,  though  de- 
prived of  his  rights  by  the  Powers  —  would 
have  had  more  justice  done  him.  Stevenson 
was  in  such  close  communication  with  him 
that  by  some  he  was  indeed  suspected  of  aid- 
ing and  abetting  him  in  warlike  preparations. 
The  Samoa  Times  openly  hinted  at  it.  So 
spiteful  was  this  strangely  edited  newspaper 
that  it  lost  no  opportunity  to  attack  the  gifted 
resident  among  us;  and  on  May  5,  1894, 
long  after  Mataafa's  downfall  and  deporta- 
tion, the  following  appeared  in  its  columns : 


SAMOA'S  "GRAND  OLD  MAN"  179 

What  are  we  to  understand  by  the  fact  that  Mr. 
R.  L.  Stevenson  imported  by  the  last  boat  from 
Sydney  six  repeating  rifles  and  a  case  of  ammuni- 
tion ?  Has  there  been  a  revision  of  the  Treaty  in 
this  particular?  If  we  remember  correctly,  about 
July,  1893,  four  rifles  and  some  ammunition  — 
1,500  cartridges  —  imported  by  Mr.  H.  J.  Moors 
were  considerately  taken  charge  of  by  the  govern- 
ment. 

The  article  was  a  long  one,  with  a  decided 
sting  in  it;  though  published  under  the  pre- 
tense of  advocating  equality  of  treatment  for 
all,  it  was  nothing  but  a  veiled  attack  on  Mr. 
Stevenson,  insinuating  as  it  did,  that  he  could 
not  possibly  require  six  new  rifles  for  use  at 
Vailima  alone. 

We  know  Stevenson's  estimate  of  Mataafa; 
what  is  Mataafa's  estimate  of  Stevenson? 
"  I  shall  never  forget  him,"  he  said  recently 
to  a  friend  of  mine.  "  He  often  came  to 
see  me.  He  was  very  kind  to  me  and  my 
people.  He  never  said  he  would  come  to 
see  me  '  weather  permitting; '  he  always  came 
on  the  day  he  promised,  no  matter  if  it  rained. 


180    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

"  The  beautiful  letters  that  I  had  from 
Tusitala,  and  many  presents  he  gave  me, 
were  all  destroyed  when  I  was  sent  away. 
When  I  was  in  exile  in  Jaluit,  my  friend  did 
not  forget  me,  for  Mr.  Graham  Balfour  came 
to  see  me,  and  in  Tusitala's  name  presented 
me  with  two  large  bags  of  ava  and  many  fine 
goods.  And  the  chiefs  who  were  with  me 
as  political  prisoners,  their  names  were  not 
forgotten;  for  every  one  there  were  so  many 
shirts  and  so  many  lavalavas.1  And  my 
chiefs  in  jail  at  Mulinuu,  he  remembered 
them  and  fed  them. 

"  After  I  am  dead,  men  will  connect  our 
names.  He  was  as  well  known  to  me  as  a 
brother,  as  well  known  to  me  as  my  son  Tu- 
puafaasua.  When  he  came  to  Malie,  he 
gave  us  good  advice,  saying  '  You  must  look 
after  your  people  well  and  govern  Samoa 
wisely,  for  if  the  three  Powers  see  you  can- 
not govern  yourselves  they  will  wrench  the 
government  out  of  your  hands.' 
1  Lavalava,  a  loincloth. 


M.uaafa 


SAMOA'S  "GRAND  OLD  MAN"  181 

"  His  words  have  come  true,  all  of  them. 
Everything  he  predicted  has  come  to  pass. 
His  wisdom  was  great,  and  he  was  always  for 
peace. 

11 1  am  glad  a  settled  government  has  come 
to  us.  If  it  were  not  so,  there  would  be  many 
wars.  I  prayed  unceasingly  to  God  for  a 
good  and  stable  government,  and  he  heard 
my  prayer. 

"God  bless  the  spot  where  Tusitala  lies! 
He  showed  me  what  was  good  for  Samoa  — 
and  I  would  like  to  have  a  big  picture  of  his 
face  to  hang  up  in  my  house." 

And  a  few  years  ago  Mataafa  sent  me  this 
letter: 

Mulinuu,  March  22,  1906. 
I  write  this  letter  in  ever-loving  remembrance  of 
the  Chief  Tusitala.  It  is  impossible  for  my  heart 
to  forget  the  great  love  of  this  Chief.  He  loved 
me  exceedingly.  He  was  to  me  like  a  true  father 
and  a  true  brother.  His  advice  to  me  to  keep 
peace  and  good  order  in  Samoa  was  excellent;  it 
was  very  necessary  that  Samoa  should  not  be  fight- 
ing. His  great  love  to  me  was  even  shown  by  the 
raiment  that  he  gave  for  the  keep  of  my  body.     I 


1 82    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

dearly  love  him,  and  the  good  wishes  of  my  heart 
are  ever  with  him.  I  greatly  love  his  wife  and 
Lloyd,  their  son.  May  the  King  who  reigns  in 
heaven  receive  this  Chief  in  His  eternal  mansions! 
This  letter  is  ended,  but  my  love  towards  his  Ext 
cellency  Tusitala  will  never  end. 

I  am, 
J.  Mataafa, 
High  Chief  of  Samoa. 

Poor  old,  ill-used  Mataafa.  He  was  sent 
into  exile  for  several  years,  and  was  only 
allowed  to  return  on  entering  into  a  bond  to 
refrain  from  doing  anything  calculated  to  dis- 
turb the  existing  government.  He  lives  now 
away  in  the  hills  three  miles  south  of  Apia 
in  a  neat  frame  dwelling  erected  on  his  own 
lands.  Out  of  the  revenue  of  the  country 
he  is  allowed  a  modest  pension  and  certain 
other  grants.  His  estates  are  worked  by  his 
retainers,  and  from  them  he  obtains  both  food 
and  money.  Though  he  no  longer  directs  na- 
tive armies,  or  enforces  obedience  to  native 
laws,  he  finds  quiet  occupation  in  mildly  ad- 
ministering the  details  of  his  own  plantations 


/ 


£t---nt*s     .lvu£^t      a£a'lA.      <^o.<k.  syt^tisTLA^stiA.*.,*-.    ^c-L^ 


SAMOA'S  "GRAND  OLD  MAN"  183 

and  in  such  pompous  ceremonials  as  still  at- 
tach to  his  chiefly  dignity.  For  by  all  Sa- 
moans  —  and  by  all  whites,  too  —  he  is  re- 
garded as  the  greatest  living  Samoan. 

In  these  days,  when  our  former  animosi- 
ties have  all  been  worn  down,  people  wonder 
how  it  came  about  that  the  Powers  were  so 
long  constrained  to  support  a  weakling  and 
decadent  native  dynasty  with  arms  and  men 
to  the  detriment  of  a  well-chosen  ruler,  who 
asked  no  assistance  and  whose  character  was 
always  far  above  reproach. 

Mataafa,  weighted  with  years,  but  relieved 
of  cares  and  consuming  contentions,  sits  in  his 
comfortable  retreat,  wonderingly  watching 
the  remarkable  success  attending  the  efforts 
of  a  few  talented  white  officials,  who  without 
the  least  show  of  force  behind  them  took  up 
the  Samoan  entanglements,  unravelled  them, 
and  with  new  machinery  wove  them  into  a 
stout  and  useful  fabric.  He  sees  for  once 
in  his  long  life  —  and  his  years  are  more  than 
seventy  —  that  every  district  has  been  paci- 


1 84    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

fied  and  has  turned  without  reluctance  to 
peaceful  pursuits.  His  savage  warriors  of  a 
few  years  ago  now  sport  bicycles,  or  ride  in 
carriages  along  the  many  useful  roads  that 
have  been  carried  over  morasses  and  through 
mountains,  and  along  the  formerly  inacces- 
sible cliffs  that  face  the  sea.  Court  houses, 
churches,  schools  and  other  buildings  for  the 
education,  convenience  and  uplifting  of  the 
people  have  been  constructed  without  in- 
curring any  debt  whatever,  and  salaries  which 
a  few  years  ago  would  have  swamped  the 
weak  energies  of  the  islanders  are  now 
promptly  paid,  and  a  surplus  of  funds  laid 
by  to  meet  emergencies.  Mataafa  is  not 
disturbed  by  this  progress,  for  neither  his 
liberties  and  privileges,  nor  those  of  his  peo- 
ple, have  been  curtailed;  on  the  contrary  they 
have  been  enlarged.  Although  he  is  styled 
the  "  Alii  Sili  O  Samoa  " —  the  Supreme 
Chief  of  Samoa — he  knows  he  is  not  king 
and  that  he  must  be  entirely  guided  by  the 
Imperial  Governor. 


SAMOA'S  "GRAND  OLD  MAN"  185 

If  a  letter  may  serve  as  any  criterion  by 
which  to  judge  a  man's  heart,  or  to  gauge 
his  sentiments,  the  following  touching  epistle 
addressed  to  me  gives  a  good  insight  into  this 
old  chief's  character: 

Amaile,  Sept.  11,  1899. 
To  his  Excellency,  Tupuafaasua  Misimoa. 

My  dearest  and  loving  son  of  my  heart:  Greet- 
ings to  you,  also  to  your  wife  and  children,  whom 
I  wish  may  have  health  and  strength. 

I  wish  to  inform  your  Excellency  that  I  am 
thoroughly  out  of  sorts,  and  my  body  is  still  weak, 
but  the  village  and  our  family  are  all  well.  I  have 
to  thank  you,  my  dear  son,  for  the  beautiful,  ex- 
pedient and  truthful  words  of  the  letter  you  have 
written  me. 

You  are  very  right ;  we  must  not  be  boastful  — 
I  mean  myself  and  those  who  are  associated  with 
me  —  but  we  must  render  thanks  to  God  who  ended 
our  tribulations  and  changed  the  late  troublous 
times  into  peaceful  ones,  the  Great  Powers  on 
earth  taking  part  in  this  transformation  as  if  also 
by  Divine  commandment,  and  apparently  taking 
pleasure  in  so  doing.  It  appears  that  God  is  still 
pouring  blessings  upon  us,  and  is  Himself  arrang- 
ing a  peaceful  and  pleasant  government  for  Samoa. 
May  he  ever  turn  the  hearts  of  the  Great  Powers 


1 86    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

in  a  kindly  way  towards  poor  Samoa,  so  that  we 
may  still  hold  our  honest  rights  and  independence 
for  the  benefit  and  happiness  of  future  generations. 

I  believe  that  your  ideas  and  mine  are  identical 
on  this  subject.  Now  my  dear  Tupuafaasua,  my 
words  to  you  in  this  letter  are  insufficient  to  express 
my  feelings  towards  you.  All  of  your  kind  and 
prudent  advice  to  me  will  be  accepted  fully. 

Which  of  these  two  ancient  names  would  you  wish 
to  choose?  Both  are  within  my  gift,  and  both  are 
very  honorable.  The  one  is  Tauiliili,  and  the 
other  is  Tupuafaasua.  Please  let  me  know  by  let- 
ter. One  of  my  grandsons  who  has  been  attend- 
ing the  Marist  Brothers'  school  has  been  named 
Misimoa,1  and  it  is  my  desire  that  you  name  your 
eldest  daughter  Pafuti. 

Your  Excellency  desired  me  to  try  to  call  to- 
gether a  large  meeting.  Now  I  have  asked  Tumua 
and  Pule  to  do  this.  It  must  be  a  great  meeting 
where  all  Samoa  can  be  gathered  together  —  a  sin- 
cere peace  conference. 

Now  my  letter  ends,  but  not  my  love,  which 
ever  turns  towards  you  and  your  wife.  Kalala 
sends  her  kindest  regards,  and  all  the  girls  join 
with  her  in  sending  also  their  alofa,  as  well  also 
as  all  the  inhabitants  of  our  town  and  household. 

1  My  Samoan  name,  as  placed  in  front  of  my  various 
trading  stations  throughout  the  Samoan  group  of  is- 
lands. 


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SAMOA'S  "GRAND  OLD  MAN"  187 

I  close  with  my  own  best  love  to  your  Excellency 
and  to  your  wife.     Long  life  to  you. 

Your  true  friend  and  father, 

J.  Mataafa. 

Shortly  after  this  letter  I  received  another 
from  him,  hardly  less  touching.  "  My  great 
love  yearns  toward  you  every  moment,"  it 
began;  and  Mataafa  went  on  to  ask  me  to 
accept  a  piece  of  land  at  Amaile  as  "  an  offer- 
ing of  love  and  gratitude."  There  is  a  pa- 
thetic interest  in  the  following  words :  "  I 
wanted  to  give  you  a  piece  of  land  in  Apia, 
but  in  these  times  it  cannot  be  done,  as  I  have 
no  land  there  now.  So  I  am  desirous  that 
you  get  a  piece  of  land  right  here  in  the  heart 
of  the  village;  and  there  you  can  have  erected 
a  house  of  recreation  where  in  your  holidays 
you  and  your  family  may  rest  and  enjoy  your- 
selves near  me.  And  when  the  Lord  has 
willed  us  to  die,  then  your  body  and  mine  will 
be  laid  together  here  in  this  very  spot."  He 
stated  that  he  was  building  a  new  tomb,  and 
desired  that  I  should  share  it  with  him. 


1 88    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

They  might  have  dealt  with  you  more 
kindly,  Mataafa!  Who,  dear  friend,  will 
ever  estimate  your  forbearance  towards  your 
enemies,  or  your  high  virtues  as  a  Christian 
man,  now  that  Tusitala  has  departed,  unless 
I  in  humble  strain  recite  a  portion  of  your 
history? 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE    "  ROAD    OF    GRATITUDE  " 

Stevenson  told  me  that  one  of  the  things 
it  had  cost  him  most  pain  to  write  was  his 
letter  to  the  Times  dealing  with  the  over- 
throw and  deportation  of  Mataafa.  As  I 
have  already  stated,  some  of  his  principal 
chiefs  were  deported  with  him. 

"  As  for  the  other  twenty-seven  in  gaol," 
wrote  Stevenson,  "  let  the  doors  be  opened  at 
once.  They  have  shown  their  patience,  they 
have  proved  their  loyalty  long  enough.  On 
two  occasions  when  the  guards  deserted  in  a 
body,  and  again  when  the  Aana  prisoners 
fled,  they  remained,  one  may  truly  say,  volun- 
tary prisoners.  And  at  least  let  them  be  fed. 
I  have  paid  taxes  to  the  Samoan  government 
for  some   four  years,   and  the  most  sensible 

189 


190    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

benefit  I  have  received  in  return  has  been  to 
be  allowed  to  feed  their  prisoners." 

The  circumstances  relating  to  the  feeding 
of  these  prisoners  I  have  already  related. 
These  were  the  men  concerning  whom  Ste- 
venson spoke  to  me  when  I  returned  from 
the  States  in  the  latter  part  of  1893.  These 
were  they  who  shortly  afterwards  accom- 
panied me  to  my  store  "  on  parole  "  from  the 
jail  and  loaded  themselves  with  provisions 
and  returned  to  give  a  feast  to  their  captors. 
These  were  they  who  on  their  release  at  the 
end  of  August,  1894,  made  the  "  Road  of 
Gratitude"  leading  from  the  main  road  — 
the  Ala  Sopo  —  to  Stevenson's  house,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile. 

On  September  1,  1894,  the  Samoa  Times 
published  the  following  interesting  statement: 

The  names  of  the  Samoan  political  prison- 
ers who  were  pardoned  last  week  and  released  from 
Mulinuu  gaol  are  Lata,  Fea,  Muliaiga,  Leao, 
Fatialofa,  Po'e,  Tupuola  and  Taugaloa  (the  last 
named  being  let  out  provisionally).  On  inquiry, 
we   gleaned   that   when   a   batch   of   prisoners   was 


THE  "ROAD  OF  GRATITUDE"   191 

pardoned  a  short  time  since  those  mentioned  above 
had  been  promised  their  liberation  when  the  ex- 
igencies of  the  political  situation  warranted  such  an 
act  of  Royal  clemency. 

On  the  submission  of  the  Atua  rebels,  the  Gov- 
ernment considered  that  such  Atuans  as  were  incar- 
cerated, and  others  whose  towns  are  now  supporting 
the  government,  might  be  released  on  their  promise 
of  good  behavior;  hence  the  exodus  from  gaol  to 
which  we  have  referred. 

It  was  understood  that  when  the  first  party  was 
pardoned  —  in  order  to  show  appreciation  of  the  act 
—  a  certain  amount  of  road  work  was  to  be  done 
by  them.  In  the  present  instance,  however,  no  ob- 
ligation of  this  nature  was  entered  into,  but  the 
ex-prisoners,  from  a  feeling  of  fair  play,  or  some 
other  unexplained  cause,  determined  among  them- 
selves to  do  as  their  predecessors  had  done. 

From  some  old  feeling  of  good-will  or  affection 
towards  Mr.  R.  L.  Stevenson,  the  whole  party 
found  themselves  at  Vailima  on  Monday  morning 
last,  and  informed  that  gentleman  of  their  decision 
to  make  roads  as  an  act  of  alofa  to  the  king.  They 
also  expressed  a  desire  from  the  kindly  feelings  which 
they  entertained  towards  Mr.  Stevenson  to  devote 
their  attention  to  the  road  from  Vailima  to  town. 
They  wanted  no  food  provided,  other  than  what 
their  women  could  collect  —  indeed,  they  wished  the 
work  to  be  one  of  alofa  pure  and  simple. 


192    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

Naturally  Mr.  Stevenson  was  very  much  flattered 
by  this  evidence  of  kindly  feelings  towards  him,  and 
expressed  himself  to  that  effect  through  the  inter- 
preter of  the  party  —  the  well  known  Jack  Muliaiga. 

The  work  of  "  alofa  "  was  concluded  at 
the  end  of  September,  1894;  and  to  mark  the 
occasion  an  interesting  social  function  took 
place  at  Vailima.  Among  the  guests,  in  ad- 
dition to  representative  Samoans,  were  Judge 
Ide,  President  Schmidt,  Mr.  Mulligan, 
(United  States  Consul),  Messrs.  Haggard 
and  Chambers  (Land  Commissioners),  Lieu- 
tenants Eeles  and  Worthington  and  Dr.  Hos- 
kyne,  of  H.M.S.  Curacoa.  Among  the  Sa- 
moans was  the  Tuamasaga  high  chief  Seu- 
manutafa,  whose  conspicuous  bravery  and 
humanity  on  the  occasion  of  the  great  hurri- 
cane of  1889  stands  forth  as  one  of  the  bright- 
est deeds  in  the  world's  history.  Half  a 
dozen  warships,  British,  German  and  Ameri- 
can, were  at  anchor  in  Apia  harbor  on  that 
memorable  day,  and  of  them  all  the  Calliope, 
which  steamed  right  out  to  sea  in  the  teeth  of 


i'  :  Gratitude"  as  it  is  to-day,  merely  a  clearing  through  the 

li  to  connect  the  main  mad  with  the  governor's  mansion 


THE  "  ROAD  OF  GRATITUDE  "  193 

the  gale,  was  the  only  one  to  escape  destruc- 
tion. To-day  the  great  rusty  shell  of  the 
German  warship  Adler  lies,  a  grim  and  pa- 
thetic monument  of  the  fury  of  the  tempest, 
high  and  dry,  not  more  than  a  couple  of 
hundred  yards  from  my  house,  and  at  low 
water  one  may  almost  walk  right  up  to  it. 
Call  to  mind  that  at  that  time  the  Samoans 
were  at  war  with  the  Powers,  being  subjected 
to  daily  bombardment,  and  the  action  of 
those  dusky  warriors  was  a  thing  to  marvel 
at.  Headed  by  this  brave  man  Seumanutafa, 
they  put  down  their  arms,  forgot  that  the 
men  on  those  sinking  ships  were  their  ene- 
mies, and  went  forth  to  rescue  them.  His- 
tory tells  of  few  grander  deeds  than  that. 

This  was  one  reason  why  Seumanutafa  was 
an  honored  guest  at  Vailima  on  the  day  of 
which  we  speak.  The  ceremony  opened  with 
kava-drinking,  the  guests  being  seated  on  mats 
on  the  floor  of  the  veranda.  Then  the  ubiq- 
uitous photographer  called  for  attention; 
and  after  that  Mr.  Stevenson  read  his  well 


i94    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

known  address.  A  Samoan  translation  of  it 
having  been  delivered  by  Mr.  Osbourne, 
Seumanutafa  followed  with  some  remarks  of 
general  interest. 

In  response,  the  Chief  Po'e  expressed  on 
behalf  of  the  native  guests  their  appreciation 
of  the  courtesy  shown  them  by  Mr.  Steven- 
son, whose  good  advice  they  would  remem- 
ber and  endeavor  to  act  upon. 

At  the  junction  of  the  new  road  with  the 
old  track,  a  signboard  lettered  by  Mrs. 
Strong,  was  placed,  bearing  the  names  of  the 
"  alofa  "  workmen  and  an  explanatory  state- 
ment. You  may  see  that  signboard,  to-day, 
interesting  relic  of  an  interesting  past,  albeit 
the  hand  of  time  is  gradually  wiping  away 
the  lettering,  so  that  soon  it  will  be  scarcely 
decipherable. 

In  the  native  tongue  there  was  this  in- 
scription : 

Considering  the  great  love  of  his  Excellency, 
Tusitala,  in  his  loving  care  of  us  in  our  tribulation 
in  the  prison,  we  have  made  this  great  gift.     It  shall 


^ 

manutafa 


THE  "  ROAD  OF  GRATITUDE  "  195 

never  be  muddy,  it  shall  go  on  forever,  this  road  that 
we  have  dug. 

"  Chiefs,"  said  Stevenson  in  his  address 
that  day,  "  our  road  is  not  built  to  last  a 
thousand  years,  yet  in  a  sense  it  is.  When  a 
road  is  once  built,  it  is  a  strange  thing  how  it 
collects  traffic,  how  every  year  as  it  goes  on 
more  and  more  people  are  found  to  walk 
thereon,  and  others  are  raised  up  to  repair 
and  perpetuate  it  and  "keep  it  alive;  so  that 
perhaps  even  this  road  of  ours  may,  from 
reparation  to  reparation,  continue  to  exist  and 
be  useful  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  years 
after  we  are  mingled  in  the  dust.  And  it  is 
my  hope  that  our  faraway  descendants  may 
remember  and  bless  those  who  labored  for 
them  to-day." 

This  he  said  of  the  road.  Of  Samoa  and 
her  people  he  said:  "  I  love  the  land;  and  I 
have  chosen  it  to  be  my  home  while  I  live 
and  my  grave  after  I  am  dead.  And  I  love 
the  people,  and  have  chosen  them  to  be  my 
people  to  live  and  die  with." 


CHAPTER  XVII 

A    PLAN   THAT    FAILED 

"  In  contrast  to  Goethe,"  says  Mr.  Baildon, 
"  Stevenson  was  but  little  affected  by  his  rela- 
tions to  women,  and  when  this  point  is  fully 
gone  into  it  will  probably  be  found  that  his 
mother  and  nurse  in  childhood  and  his  wife 
and  stepdaughter  in  later  life  are  about  the 
only  women  who  seriously  influenced  either 
his  character  or  his  art." 

I  sometimes  wonder  if  Stevenson  would 
have  done  better  work  if  he  had  never  mar- 
ried. "  Marriage,"  he  tells  us,  "  is  a  field  of 
battle  and  not  a  bed  of  roses."  Once  mar- 
ried, "  there  are  no  more  by-path  meadows 
where  you  may  innocently  linger,  but  the  road 
lies  long  and  straight  and  dusty  to  the  grave." 
And  again:  "  It  is  better  to  face  the  fact  and 
know,   when  you  marry,  that  you  take  into 

196 


A  PLAN  THAT  FAILED       197 

your  life  a  creature  of  equal  if  unlike  frail- 
ties ;  whose  weak,  human  heart  beats  no  more 
tunefully  than  yours." 

True,  his  marriage  was  a  happy  one;  but 
I  make  bold  to  say  that  neither  was  his  char- 
acter bettered  by  it,  nor  his  art  benefited. 
He  was  very  fond  of  his  wife  and  easily  led 
by  her;  "Fanny"  was  like  a  king  —  she 
could  do  no  wrong.  Mrs.  Strong,  too,  was 
headstrong  and  talkative,  and  generally  got 
her  way  with  him.  Carruthers  has  spoken 
of  that  "  swaying  of  his  better  judgment  " 
by  other  people;  and  in  justice  to  Stevenson 
I  feel  compelled  to  say  that  in  my  opinion 
those  slippings  from  his  own  nature  were  due 
to  the  influence  of  the  women  folk  of  Vailima. 
Some  very  plain  things  have  to  be  said  if  we 
are  to  excuse  him  for  some  of  the  things  he 
did;  or  else  he  was  a  Don  Quixote,  a  Tar- 
tarin  de  Tarascon,  and  a  Dr.  Jekyll  and  Mr. 
Hyde  all  rolled  into  one.  I  confess  I  am 
unable  to  understand,  with  all  my  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  man,  how  he  came  to  de- 


198    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

scend  to  some  of  the  pettinesses  of  which  he 
was  guilty. 

It  became  quite  evident  to  me  that  if  Ste- 
venson was  to  give  us  of  the  best  that  was  in 
him,  he  must  get  away  from  the  restraints 
and  annoyances  that  he  was  subject  to  in 
Vailima.  In  an  earlier  chapter  I  have  spoken 
of  Nassau  Island,  a  lovely  spot  in  the  Pacific 
that  he  and  his  wife  had  described  as  a  veri- 
table paradise.  I  opened  negotiations  for  its 
purchase  on  his  behalf,  but  one  of  his  fits  of 
depression  came  suddenly  upon  him,  and  the 
negotiations  were  broken  off.  About  a  year 
afterwards,  on  the  death  of  the  wife  of  the 
owner  of  the  island,  Captain  John  Ellacott, 
the  paradise  was  offered  for  sale  at  a  reduced 
price,  namely  four  thousand  dollars,  and  as 
Stevenson  no  longer  desired  to  buy  it  I  se- 
cured it  myself.  I  then  told  him  he  was  at 
liberty  to  make  any  use  of  it  that  he  wished, 
and  more  than  once  I  suggested  that  he  should 
spend  some  months  on  the  island. 

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A  PLAN  THAT  FAILED       199 

tion,  I  met  him  at  lunch  with  a  very  jolly 
party  at  the  Tivoli  hotel;  and  as  we  had  not 
seen  each  other  for  some  considerable  time 
and  had  many  things  to  discuss  in  private, 
we  retired  to  the  tower  in  order  that  we  might 
be  free  from  interruption. 

The  Wrecker  had  not  long  been  pub- 
lished, and  though  it  had  been  favorably  re- 
viewed and  was  selling  well,  I  felt  that  the 
work  put  into  it  was  much  below  the  standard 
that  Stevenson  was  capable  of.  I  wished  to 
remonstrate  with  him  on  the  subject  of  col- 
laboration and  to  prick  him  to  better  effort. 
I  had  not  at  that  time  seen  any  of  the 
pages  of  St.  Ives  or  Weir  of  Hermiston; 
but  The  Wrecker,  The  Dynamiter  and  The 
Wrong  Box  jarred  on  my  mind,  and  I  felt 
that  it  would  be  doing  my  friend  a  kind- 
ness to  tell  him  not  only  what  was  patent 
to  me,  but  what  also  seemed  to  be  the  gen- 
eral opinion  of  his  friends  in  the  States  — 
that  collaboration  was  destroying  his  reputa- 
tion.    I  now  took  occasion  to  recall  the  splen- 


200    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

did  work  he  had  done  in  Kidnapped,  The 
Master  of  Ballantrae,  and  Dr.  Jekyll  and 
Mr.  Hyde,  and  besought  him  to  keep  up  the 
standard  he  had  reached  in  those  books. 

"  Why,  Moors,"  he  said,  "  I  was  paid 
more  for  The  Wrecker  than  for  Ballan- 
trae! " 

He  said,  I  think,  that  he  received  five 
thousand  dollars  for  the  serial  rights  of  Bal- 
lantrae and  six  thousand  five  hundred  for 
The  Wrecker.  From  a  monetary  point 
of  view  I  had  to  admit  that  The  Wrecker 
was  the  more  successful.  "  But  even  so,"  I 
said,  "  the  story  has  not  enhanced  your  rep- 
utation, and  if  you  get  a  high  price  for  it, 
your  reputation  as  a  writer  of  better  tales 
won  it  for  you.  For  heaven's  sake,  Steven- 
son, no  more  '  Wreckers '  and  no  more 
'  Wrong  Boxes ! '  What  would  Mrs.  Oli- 
phant  say?  " 

He  laughed.  He  took  my  expostulation 
in  excellent  part  —  thanked  me,  in  fact,  for 
my  plain  speaking  —  and  then  declared  that 


A  PLAN  THAT  FAILED      201 

if  he  could  get  away  somewhere  to  work  un- 
disturbed he  might  accomplish  something 
worth  attempting. 

"Nassau  Island?"  I  suggested  once 
again. 

Stevenson  immediately  brightened  up. 
"  The  very  thing,"  he  said.  "  We  will  go 
down  there  together,  and  I'll  see  that  you 
write  down  some  of  those  wonderful  stories 
you  have  told  me  of  your  early  experiences 
among  the  islands.  You  can  do  it,  Moors  — 
do  it  admirably,  I'm  sure  —  and  I'll  help  you 
over  all  the  rough  places.  In  return,  you 
will  be  able  to  help  me  in  many  ways." 

Now  my  only  claim  to  being  a  writer  con- 
sisted in  having  written  a  scattering  lot  of 
political  documents  which  had  somewhat  at- 
tracted Stevenson;  and  while  I  readily  prom- 
ised that  I  would  make  an  effort  in  the  direc- 
tion indicated,  I  scarcely  meant  it  to  be  taken 
seriously. 

The  important  question  was  how  to  keep 
the  ladies  away  from  our  island  retreat,  but 


202    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

he  said  he  could  manage  it  somehow.  Mean- 
while, I  had  myself  visited  Nassau,  and  had 
set  a  party  of  islanders  to  work,  clearing  out 
the  encumbering  vines,  planting  additional 
cocoanuts,  and  otherwise  improving  those 
three  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  so  that  by  the 
time  of  our  arrival  it  promised  to  have  al- 
most a  park-like  appearance.  Stevenson, 
longing  for  the  peace  and  quiet  of  such  a 
spot,  evinced  a  lively  interest  in  my  account 
of  these  labors;  and  when  we  left  the  tower 
and  rejoined  our  friends  we  drank  a  quiet 
toast  to  our  own  future  happiness  in  Elysian 
fields.  It  happened  that  I  had  to  visit  the 
States  again  shortly  after  our  talk  at  the 
Tivoli,  and  it  was  arranged  that  as  soon  as 
I  returned  the  trip  to  Nassau  Island  should 
take  place. 

But  I  never  saw  Stevenson  again.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  shock  I  experienced 
when  one  morning,  as  I  was  sitting  at  break- 
fast in  New  Orleans  I  opened  a  newspaper 
and  read  a  cablegram  giving  an  account  of 


A  PLAN  THAT  FAILED       203 

his  death.  All  our  plans  were  shattered  in 
an  instant.  When  I  had  left  Apia  my  friend 
was  looking  well  and  was  apparently  in  the 
best  of  spirits.  I  had  thought  he  had  many 
long  years  before  him,  and  he  had  told  me 
that  he  was  then  engaged  on  some  work 
which  I  would  be  sure  to  applaud,  though 
he  gave  me  no  inkling  as  to  what  it  was. 

But  afterwards  I  learned  that  he  had 
dropped  the  harmful  collaboration  and  that 
it  was  Hermiston  and  St.  Ives  that  he  re- 
ferred to. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

DEATH    AND   BURIAL 

Stevenson's  death  fell  like  a  thunderclap 
on  the  little  community  in  Apia.  The  start- 
ling suddenness  of  it,  indeed,  came  as  a  shock 
to  many  thousands  in  various  parts  of  the 
world.  His  death  from  a  suffusion  of  blood 
on  the  brain  was  quite  unlooked  for;  it  was 
not  thus  that  it  was  expected.  And  yet  he 
had  his  wish.  A  sudden  end  was  his  desire. 
He  often  spoke  of  death,  even  quite  gaily, 
and  he  told  me  once  that  when  the  time  came 
he  would  "  like  to  go  out  swift  and  clean." 
He  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  lingering 
in  pitiable  despondency  and  helplessness. 
And  in  the  Vallima  Letters  we  find  him 
writing,  "  If  only  I  could  secure  a  violent 
death,  what  a  fine  success." 

When,    on   the   evening   of   December   3, 

204 


DEATH  AND  BURIAL        205 

1894,  Lloyd  Osbourne,  hatless  and  coatless, 
was  seen  galloping  breathless  down  the  Tivoli 
road  into  Apia,  everyone  knew  that  some- 
thing serious  had  happened.  The  news  was 
soon  out;  Stevenson  had  had  a  sudden  and 
violent  attack.  One  of  the  novelist's  friends 
met  Lloyd  Osbourne  in  front  of  the  Tivoli 
hotel,  and  on  learning  what  had  happened 
immediately  sought  the  services  of  Dr.  An- 
derson of  H.  M.  S.  Wallaroo,  while  Os- 
bourne rode  excitedly  for  Dr.  Funk,  the 
resident  practitioner.  Both  doctors  re- 
sponded quickly  to  the  call,  making  all  pos- 
sible haste  to  Vailima,  and  if  skill  and 
patience  could  have  availed  in  such  a  case 
they  were  not  wanting.  From  the  first,  how- 
ever, there  seemed  but  a  glimmer  of  hope; 
and  soon  the  light  had  fled  from  hospitable 
Vailima.  Stevenson  breathed  his  last  about 
eight  o'clock,  never  recovering  a  gleam  of 
consciousness  from  the  time  of  his  seizure. 

Little  throngs  of  people  might  have  been 
seen  wending  their  way   from   all   directions 


206    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

towards  Vailima,  and  even  before  the  doc- 
tors had  arrived  the  garden  was  well  filled 
with  a  hushed  and  respectful  gathering. 
When  the  end  was  finally  announced,  weird 
death  wails,  hymns  and  chants  arose.  Dur- 
ing part  of  the  night  and  the  following  morn- 
ing the  woods  echoed  and  re-echoed  as  with 
their  axes  and  knives  many  loving  Samoans 
cleared  a  pathway  up  Mt.  Vaea  for  the 
funeral  procession. 

Stevenson  had  wished  to  be  buried  on  the 
summit  of  the  mountain,  and  his  wish  was 
respected.  Throughout  the  long  night  a 
number  of  Samoans  at  their  own  express  wish, 
were  allowed  to  watch  by  the  body;  and  dur- 
ing Tuesday  morning  the  body  lay  on  a  couch 
in  the  ball-room  until  removed  to  its  final 
resting  place.  The  face  was  calm  and  com- 
posed. On  the  couch  were  several  Samoan 
fine  mats,  and  numerous  wreaths  lay  on  a 
table  near  at  hand. 

Early  in  the  afternoon  the  coffin  was  car- 
ried up  the  steep  mountain  to  a  small  plateau 


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DEATH  AND  BURIAL        207 

upon  the  summit;  and  so  rugged  was  the 
pathway,  so  great  the  natural  impediments, 
that  in  some  places  the  bearers  could  do  no 
more  than  retain  their  hold  of  the  casket, 
while  by  means  of  ropes  round  their  waists 
their  comrades  hauled  them  upwards  towards 
the  goal,  thirteen  hundred  feet  above  the 
spreading  ocean. 

It  was  a  long,  sad  climb;  and  as  the 
procession  moved  the  heralds  in  front  waved 
their  staffs  of  office  and  announced  the 
occasion  of  the  march,  sorrowful  wails 
from  behind  following  each  utterance.  At 
length,  when  the  last  follower  had  scram- 
bled to  the  top,  and  all  were  assembled 
around  the  open  grave  —  nineteen  Europe- 
ans, specially  invited,  and  sixty  Samoans  — 
the  service  for  the  dead  was  conducted  by 
the  Rev.  W.  E.  Clarke,  Tusitala's  chosen 
friend.  An  impressive  address  in  the  native 
language  was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  J.  E. 
Newell,  and  the  tears  of  the  Samoans  told 
how  they  felt  their  loss. 


208     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

From  the  Samoa  Times  of  December  8, 
1894,  I  take  this  tribute: 

"  Vailima "  is  in  mourning  for  the  head  of  its 
clan,  who  now  looks  down  upon  his  sorrowing  rela- 
tives from  the  lofty  site  on  which  his  remains  have 
been  placed  to  rest.  He  is  dead,  it  is  true,  yet  lives 
in  his  works,  which  will  perpetuate  his  name  and 
memory  through  generations.  He  lies  in  his  nar- 
row bed,  thirteen  hundred  feet  above  the  sea  level, 
calm  and  passionless,  whilst  below  him  dissensions 
reign  supreme  among  both  natives  and  whites. 
What  cares  he,  however?  Or,  what  need  he  care? 
His  race  is  run,  and  the  good  and  evil  that  he  may 
have  done  in  this  world  recorded,  leaving  as  we  hope 
and  honestly  believe,  a  credit  balance  of  no  mean 
proportions. 

Well,  he  is  gone;  the  courteous,  hospitable  and 
kindly  natured  gentleman,  whom  high  and  low,  rich 
and  poor,  relatives,  friends  and  passing  acquaintances 
will  miss  —  if  not  in  all  cases  from  personal  con- 
tact, yet  from  the  repute  of  many  kindly  actions 
scattered  with  a  lavish  hand.  Mr.  Stevenson  had 
resided  among  us  for  some  years,  and  it  may  be  said 
that  during  that  period  Samoa  was  better  known  to 
the  world  than  during  the  whole  of  its  former  ex- 
istence. In  this  sense  especially  we  have  been 
greatly  benefited  by  his  sojourn  here.     Even  in  his 


DEATH  AND  BURIAL         209 

death  he  draws  special  attention  to  this  country  as 
his  last  resting  place.     .     .     . 

The  deceased's  health  of  late  had  been  so  much 
improved  that  his  relatives  had  hoped  his  lung 
trouble  was  gradually  ceasing  to  be  absolutely  dan- 
gerous. For  a  long  time  hemorrhage  had  not  been 
in  evidence,  and  all  thought  that  the  Faculty's  pre- 
diction "  that  the  forty-fifth  year  being  safely  passed, 
the  sensitiveness  of  the  lung  would  disappear,"  might 
be  verified.  Apoplexy  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
contemplated  at  all.  Mr.  Stevenson  being  —  for 
him  —  in  robust  health,  had  put  through  an  enor- 
mous amount  of  work  of  late,  keeping  his  amanuen- 
sis, Mrs.  Strong,  at  high  pressure.  A  very  powerful 
novel,  which  would  have  been  called  Weir  of 
Hermiston  or  perhaps  The  Justice's  Clerk,  was 
in  progress  and  about  half  finished ;  and  the  author 
was  looking  forward  pleasurably  to  its  being 
launched  in  the  literary  world  as  one  of  his  best 
productions.  This  was  not  to  be,  however,  as  he 
and  his  book  unexpectedly  came  to  a  terminus  —  in 
mid-life  —  and  the  train  stopped  there. 

Just  immediately  before  his  attack  Mr.  Stevenson 
wras  engaged  in  superintending  the  manufacture  of 
a  special  salad  dressing,  thus  indicating  that  he  was 
in  good  health  and  spirits.  Suddenly  he  felt  pains 
in  his  head,  and  was  almost  instantly  struck  down. 
He  was  carried  into  the  big  ball-room  and  laid  on  a 


210    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

small  bedstead,  which  had  been  hastily  conveyed 
there.  Here  he  remained,  surrounded  by  his  family 
and  his  Samoan  servants,  who  anxiously  awaited  the 
end  which  all  could  see  was  inevitable.  Just  before 
Mr.  Stevenson  ceased  to  breathe,  his  favorite  native 
body  servant  begged  to  be  permitted  to  sing  a  hymn, 
and  the  lofty  room  resounded  with  the  sweet  but 
powerful  voice  of  the  boy.     .     .     . 

The  departure  was  an  ideal  one  for  a  poet.  Sud- 
den, painless  —  or  nearly  so  —  and,  as  one  might 
say,  in  harness. 

In  harness  —  yes !  He  had  wished  to  die 
in  his  boots ! 

I  think  Stevenson  must  have  several  times 
climbed  up  Vaea  mountain,  for  on  more  than 
one  occasion  he  spoke  to  me  of  the  "  gor- 
geousness  "  of  the  view  from  the  top  of  "  his 
mountain."  On  all  sides,  indeed,  beauty  un- 
folded itself.  The  Vailima  watercourse  con- 
sisted of  two  streams  which  joined  at  the 
base  of  the  hill,  and  not  far  back  from  the 
house.  Across  the  waters,  close  to  the  junc- 
tion, he  had  built  a  rustic  bridge,  and  from 
this  there  ran  a  winding  path  to  a  very  con- 
siderable  distance,    all   the   while   ascending. 


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DEATH  AND  BURIAL        211 

On  the  one  side  was  the  tumbling  brook, 
sometimes  roystering  loudly  as  it  pressed  for- 
ward towards  the  falls,  bordered  by  lovely 
ferns,  and  arched  by  the  towering  malili  and 
talia  trees;  on  the  other  side  the  great  moun- 
tains rose  grandly,  nowhere  uncovered,  for 
if  a  venturesome  rock  obtruded  its  presence 
more  modest  nature  immediately  discerned 
the  blemish  and  sent  forth  its  greenery  to 
hide  the  nakedness  from  view.  Here  and 
there,  on  either  hand,  Mrs.  Stevenson  had 
planted  shrubs  and  grasses,  vines  and  gigan- 
tic bamboos,  all  of  them  artistically  arranged 
and  blending  with  the  natural  charm  of  the 
place.  Many  a  shrub  and  tree  from  distant 
countries  flourished  there.  On  the  east  side 
of  the  estate,  there  was  another  fine  path- 
way, extending  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile; 
and'though  along  its  course  no  running  water 
came  into  view,  the  noble  archway  of  cool- 
ing green  was  eminently  pleasing  to  the  eye. 
Everything  in  the  way  of  an  obstruction  had 
been  removed,  and  convenient  logs  and  rocks 


212     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

afforded  seats  where  one  might  enter  into 
nature's  sweet  confidence  and  gather  inspira- 
tion. 

Little  wonder  that  Stevenson  chose  to  be 
buried  on  the  top  of  Vaea,  overlooking  such 
a  panorama.  Lovely  and  pleasant  it  was  in 
his  life,  and  in  death  they  were  not  divided. 

It  was  a  prophetic  touch  when  he  wrote, 
"  I  have  gone  into  far  lands  to  die."  And 
to  Mr.  S.  R.  Crockett,  he  wrote  from  Vailima 
on  May  17,  1893  :  "  Here  I  am  until  I  die, 
and  here  will  I  be  buried.  The  word  is  out, 
and  the  doom  written."  Again,  he  wrote 
to  his  friend,  Sidney  Colvin:  "  It  is  beauti- 
ful, and  my  home  and  my  tomb  that  is  to  be; 
though  it  is  a  wrench  not  to  be  planted  in 
Scotland  —  that  I  can  never  deny." 

Scotland !  he  ever  turned  his  eyes  lovingly 
and  longingly  towards  the  country  of  his 
birth;  and  there  was  something  strangely 
pathetic  in  the  poem  that  was  published 
in  Longman's  Magazine  just  after  his 
death. 


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DEATH  AND  BURIAL         213 

"  The  tropics  vanish,  and  meseems  that  I, 
From  Halkerside,  from  topmost  Allermuir, 
Or  steep  Cae  ketton,  dreaming  gaze  again." 

And  when  a  "  Sailor's  Rest  "  was  estab- 
lished in  Apia  not  long  before  his  death,  in 
connection  with  the  London  Mission,  he  con- 
tributed a  bedstead  and  named  it  "  Aller- 
muir." 

Over  the  grave  a  cemented  monument  or 
tomb  was  soon  erected  by  native  labor,  and 
in  accordance  with  the  usual  native  design. 
On  one  side,  facing  the  east,  his  own  well- 
known  words  were  inscribed: 

Under  the  wide  and  starry  sky, 
Dig  the  grave  and  let  me  lie. 
Glad  did  I  live  and  gladly  die, 

And  I  laid  me  down  with  a  will. 

This  be  the  verse  you  grave  for  me ; 
Here  he  lies  where  he  longed  to  be ; 
Home  is  the  sailor,  home  from  sea, 

And  the  hunter  home  from  the  hill. 

On  the  .>ther  side,  facing  the  west,  are 
the  words,  "  The  tomb  of  Tusitala,"  written 


2i4    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

in  Samoan,  followed  by  Ruth's  speech  to 
Naomi : 

"  Whither  thou  goest,  I  will  go;  and  where 
thou  lodgest  I  will  lodge :  and  thy  people  shall 
be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God:  where 
thou  diest  will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be 
buried." 

Chiselled  on  the  tomb  are  a  thistle  and 
hibiscus  flower  —  fitting  emblems. 

Here  on  Vaea's  lonely  summit  lies  what 
remains  of  Tusitala  —  here  in  the  midst  of 
nature's  grandeur,  where  the  stillness  is 
broken  only  by  the  songs  of  birds,  the  whistle 
of  the  breeze  through  the  tree  tops,  and  the 
murmur  of  the  sea  as  it  breaks  on  the  reefs 
and  sands  far  down  below,  a  Mecca  point 
for  hundreds  who  visit  these  shores. 

A  few  days  after  the  remains  had  been  laid 
to  rest,  and  at  the  wish  of  the  surviving  mem- 
bers of  the  family,  a  complete  account  of  the 
last  hours,  together  with  some  interesting 
facts  and  incidents  bearing  on  the  Samoan 


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DEATH  AND  BURIAL        215 

career  of  the  departed  writer,  were  prepared 
by  half  a  dozen  close  friends,  each  of  whom 
dealt  with  a  distinctive  subject.  As  a  result, 
an  interesting  pamphlet  was  printed,  adorned 
with  a  specially  prepared  photograph  —  an 
excellent  likeness  of  Stevenson  in  his  later 
years  —  and  copies  were  mailed  to  particular 
friends  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

AN   APPEAL 

Not  long  after  Stevenson's  death,  the  fam- 
ily left  for  the  United  States,  and  they  have 
but  once  revisited  their  old  home  at  Vailima. 
Before  they  left,  they  witnessed  an  interest- 
ing ceremony  at  the  grave  on  Vaea,  show- 
ing that  the  Samoans  were  not  the  only  island 
natives  who  missed  the  kindly  face  of 
Tusitala.  The  Tongans  resident  in  Apia 
asked  for  permission  to  decorate  the  grave; 
and  this  being  granted  about  forty  of  them 
ascended  the  mountain,  and  after  erecting  a 
light  frame-work  covered  it  with  flowers  and 
greenery.  Afterwards,  they  sang  a  dirge  in 
their  own  language. 

Stevenson  left  personal  estate  in  the  United 
Kingdom  to  the  value  of  $77,625.     By  his 

216 


AN  APPEAL  217 

will,  dated  September,  1893  — "  the  last  will 
and  testament  of  me,  Robert  Lewis  Balfour 
Stevenson,  known  as  Robert  Louis  Stevenson, 
Advocate  at  the  Scots  Bar  " —  he  left  half  of 
his  father's  estate  to  his  wife,  together  with 
all  the  rest  of  his  money,  books,  royalties, 
manuscripts  and  other  effects,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Vailima  estate,  and  in  fee  upon 
her  decease  to  her  son  Samuel  Lloyd  Os- 
bourne.  "  Vailima  "  was  bequeathed  to  his 
step-daughter,  Isobel  Stewart  Osbourne,  or 
Strong.  To  his  devoted  amanuensis  he  also 
left  a  portion  of  his  father's  estate,  stipulat- 
ing that  after  her  decease  it  should  be  ad- 
ministered in  the  interests  of  her  son,  Joseph 
Austin  Strong.  Several  cousins  and  his  old 
friend  Sidney  Colvin,  keeper  of  the  print 
room,  British  Museum,  also  benefited  under 
the  will.  Charles  Baxter,  writer  to  the  sig- 
net, Edinburgh,  and  Henry  James,  novelist, 
London,  were  appointed  executors. 

Writing  to  Baxter  on  the  subject  of  death, 
"I   am  myself  very  ready,"  said   R.   L.   S. ; 


218     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

"or    would    be  —  will    be  —  when    I    have 
made  a  little  money  for  my  folks." 

Before  leaving  Samoa,  Mrs.  Stevenson 
presented  her  numerous  friends  with  some 
affecting  tokens  of  regard;  and  among  other 
things  I  value  I  received  a  large  portrait  of 
my  old  friend,  a  copy  of  which  forms  the 
frontispiece  of  this  book.  It  Is  a  startling 
likeness  of  Stevenson  as  he  oftentimes  ap- 
peared, but  when  compared  with  other  por- 
traits it  will  be  found  to  present  unusual 
features.  Stevenson's  appearance  seemed  to 
change  with  his  moods  and  feelings,  and  this 
is  the  explanation.  The  medallion  of  St. 
Gaudens  was  wonderfully  like  the  subject, 
and  yet  the  face  it  gives  us  differs  from  that 
in  my  possession. 

Much  of  the  Vailima  furniture,  and  part 
of  the  library,  were  sold  by  auction;  and  I 
became  possessed  of  a  considerable  portion 
of  these  effects,  including  the  Caligraph 
typewriter  on  which  nearly  all  of  the  stories 
produced  in  Samoa  were  written.     The  old 


AN  APPEAL  219 

horse  "  Jack  "  was  turned  over  to  Mr.  Car- 
ruthers,  the  novelist's  nearest  neighbor,  and 
close  friend;  and  there  alongside  his  old 
haunts  he  lives  a  life  of  ease  and  comfort. 

"  Vailima  "  remained  unoccupied,  except 
by  caretakers,  for  a  long  time  after  the  fam- 
ily left  the  islands,  for  it  was  difficult  to  find 
a  purchaser  for  so  expensive  a  place,  situated 
as  ft  was  so  far  out  of  town.  Eventually, 
however,  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  very 
wealthy  German  gentleman,  Herr  Gustav 
Kunst,  who  was  in  the  habit  of  visiting  the 
islands  periodically  to  escape  the  severity  of 
the  northern  winters.  Chance  brought  him 
to  Samoa  in  1893,  anc^  thereafter  he  spent 
several  months  here  every  year.  When 
"  Vailima  "  was  first  brought  under  his  notice, 
he  offered  five  thousand  dollars  for  it,  but 
it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  he  had  not 
thought  the  matter  over  seriously;  the  offer 
was  of  course,  refused.  In  conversation  with 
the  writer,  Mr.  Kunst  remarked  how  singu- 
lar  it   was    that   the   whole    civilized   world 


220    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

seemed  always  struggling  to  make  money, 
since  the  pictured  enjoyments  it  was  said  to 
bring  in  its  train  were  all  a  myth.  At  fifty, 
he  said,  he  had  accumulated  a  great  fortune 
by  successful  trading  and  banking  operations 
in  Vladivostock,  and  desired  to  retire.  His 
partners,  however,  pleaded  with  him  to  re- 
main in  harness  for  another  ten  years,  and 
he  consented.  "  I  have  always  regretted  it 
since,"  he  remarked.  "  Here  I  am,  an  old 
man  at  sixty-four,  with  so  much  money  that 
I  find  it  difficult  to  spend  the  interest.  I  have 
neither  wife,  nor  child,  nor  close  relative; 
and  there  remain  to  me  only  a  few  years  in 
which  to  enjoy  myself.  Take  warning  from 
me,  and  do  not  hang  on  too  long  to  busi- 
ness." 

It  was  during  one  of  these  conversations 
that  he  told  me  the  Stevensons  had  refused 
his  offer  of  five  thousand  dollars  for  Vailima; 
and  I  smilingly  pointed  out  to  him  that  here 
was  a  case  in  which  he  allowed  his  old  bar- 
gaining proclivities  to  interfere  still  with  his 


AN  APPEAL  221 

last  enjoyments.  We  need  not  wonder  if 
human  nature  puzzled  Stevenson.  Here  was 
a  man  conspicuously  generous,  and  yet  his  old 
trading  instinct  continued  to  master  him,  and 
he  was  even  now  —  in  the  sixty-fifth  year 
of  his  life,  with  more  money  than  he  knew 
what  to  do  with  —  trying  to  drive  a  hard 
bargain.  The  property  as  every  one  knew, 
was  worth  far  more  than  double  what  he  had 
offered,  and  I  could  not  refrain  from  point- 
ing his  inconsistency  out  to  him. 

A  picket  fence  separated  us,  but  he  sud- 
denly shot  his  hand  through  exclaiming, 
'  Shake  hands,  Moors.  You're  entirely 
right.  What  an  old  fool  I  continue  to  be. 
Where  are  the  Stevensons?  Put  me  into 
communication  with  them,  and  I  will  buy 
the  place." 

Mrs.  Stevenson  was  then  in  the  Azores, 
and  correspondence  was  at  once  opened  up, 
with  the  result  that  Mr.  Kunst  bought  the 
estate  at  an  advance  price.  This  gentleman 
then   set  many  men   to   work,    clearing   and 


222    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

beautifying  the  land,  and  at  the  same  time 
he  added  another  wing  to  the  house,  making 
it  something  of  a  mansion.  Before  the  final 
improvements  were  completed  however,  the 
war  of  1899  broke  out,  and  the  place  was 
for  some  time  deserted.  Then  Mataafa's 
forces  descended  and  built  a  great  line  of 
intrenchments  along  the  lower  portion  of  the 
property,  extending  perhaps  half  a  mile  to 
eastward,  so  that  one  flank  rested  on  an  in- 
accessible ravine,  and  the  other  abutted  on 
the  precipitous  mountain  side.  These  natives 
were  heavily  bombarded  by  the  warships  ly- 
ing in  Apia  harbor,  and  after  it  was  thought 
they  were  cut  to  pieces  and  flying  for  their 
lives,  the  Tanu  forces  and  the  foreign  sailors 
rushed  forward  to  take  the  position.  Their 
calculations  were  far  astray,  and  they  were 
met  with  such  dogged  resolution  that,  not- 
withstanding their  extensive  supplies  of  am- 
munition, and  the  dearth  of  cartridges  on  the 
side  of  the  Mataafans,  they  were  driven 
down  the  hill  side,  well  towards  Apia,  with 


AN  APPEAL  223 

severe  losses.  Simultaneously  the  Mataa- 
fans,  knowing  well  that  the  warships  would 
resume  the  bombardment,  came  lower  down 
the  hill  after  the  attacking  forces  had  with- 
drawn, and  the  result  was  that  the  shells  flew 
harmlessly  over  their  heads.  During  this 
struggle  the  main  building  at  Vailima  was 
pierced  in  many  places  by  fragments  of  the 
exploding  shells  and  its  owner  later  collected 
good  damages  from  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  in  accordance  with  the  arbitra- 
tion award  made  by  King  Oscar  of  Sweden. 
It  was  not  until  about  1903  that  Vailima  was 
brought  to  its  present  state  of  perfection. 
The  grounds  were  piped  for  water  from  the 
higher  springs,  and  an  electric  plant  was  in- 
stalled. The  stables  were  filled  with  fine 
horses,  carriages  and  appointments  were  im- 
ported, and  at  the  same  time  a  great  sum 
was  spent  in  furnishing  the  house  handsomely. 
I  believe  that  for  the  table  service  twelve 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  silver  plate  was 
brought  to  Samoa.     In  addition  to  his  lav- 


224    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

ish  expenditure  on  Vailima,  Herr  Kunst  gave 
freely  of  his  wealth  to  the  little  town  itself. 
He  built  and  outfitted  a  modern  hospital  at 
a  cost  of  about  fifty  thousand  dollars.  On 
the  land  which  he  acquired  in  a  central  posi- 
tion in  the  town  he  erected  a  fine  market 
building  of  steel  and  cement  which  ought  to 
endure  for  many  years.  This  generous  spirit 
was  suddenly  cut  off  during  a  visit  to  the 
Fatherland  towards  the  end  of  1905,  and  it 
is  likely  and  indeed  appropriate  that  the 
hospital,  the  market  building,  or  an  avenue, 
will  be  named  after  him  by  the  grateful  citi- 
zens of  Apia. 

More  recently  Vailima,  thus  improved  and 
beautified,  has  been  acquired  by  the  German 
government  from  Mr.  Kunst's  nephew  and 
heir  and  is  now  the  official  residence  of  the 
Governor,  Dr.  Solf. 

No  serious  thought,  however,  has  been 
given  to  the  solitary  resting  place  of  that 
master  mind  and  tender  spirit  whose  initials 
are,  to  many  others  besides  Mr.  Barrie,  the 


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AN  APPEAL  225 

sweetest  in  recent  literature.  There  lies  the 
almost  primitive  tomb  in  its  lofty  solitude, 
quite  neglected,  visited  alone  by  the  birds  of 
the  air,  and  by  such  bold  spirits  as  have  made 
up  their  minds  to  face  the  difficulties  of  the 
arduous  ascent;  and  until  recently  the  path- 
way, the  narrow  zig-zag  track  that  the  natives 
made  when  Stevenson  died,  was  so  overgrown 
and  tangled  with  tropical  vegetation  and  fal- 
len trees,  as  to  be  well-nigh  undiscoverable. 
Of  the  many  visitors  who  come  to  Samoa 
with  the  intention  of  visiting  this  alluring 
shrine,  few  are  able  to  make  the  ascent;  for 
ladies  the  task  is  sometimes  out  of  the  ques- 
tion, and  they  are  usually  content  to  find 
consolation  in  visiting  the  mansion  and  the 
grounds,  and  gazing  inquiringly  at  the  his- 
toric mountain  towering  verdantly  before 
them,  for  some  sign  of  the  hallowed  spot 
at  the  top.  But  exuberant  nature  has  erected 
her  screens  of  greenery  veiling  the  rough 
tomb  from  view,  and  it  is  only  after  a  long 
stiff  climb  that  it  can  be  seen.     Some  time  ago 


226    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

the  subject  of  this  neglect  was  laid  before  Dr. 
Schultz,  then  acting  Governor  of  German 
Samoa,  by  Mr.  Whyte,  of  whom  I  have  pre- 
viously spoken,  and  with  a  generosity  that 
will  be  keenly  appreciated  by  lovers  of  Steven- 
son the  world  over,  he  at  once  took  steps  on 
behalf  of  the  German  government,  to  open 
up  the  pathway  and  to  clear  the  sepulchre 
from  encroachments.  It  does  not  redound 
to  the  credit  of  the  English-speaking  people, 
that  it  should  be  left  to  Germany  to  preserve 
this  historic  spot  from  utter  neglect. 

A  number  of  prisoners  were  set  to  work, 
and  not  only  was  the  little  plateau  on  the 
mountain  top  carefully  weeded  and  cleared, 
but  the  pathway  to  the  grave  was  remade. 
"  I  regret  very  much,"  wrote  Dr.  Schultz, 
"  the  bad  condition  of  the  road  leading  to 
the  burial  ground  of  Mr.  Stevenson,  know- 
ing well  the  great  esteem  people  of  all 
nationalities  acquainted  with  the  author's 
life  and  literary  work  maintain  towards  the 
deceased.     I  was  not  aware  of  this  neglect, 


AN  APPEAL  227 

and  had  the  necessary  repairs  immediately 
attended  to.  I  shall  take  measures  that  the 
road  is  kept  in  permanent  good  condition." 

Literature,  after  all,  forms  a  common  bond 
between  the  nations,  and  a  man  of  letters  is 
a  citizen  of  the  world  at  large,  but  such  work 
as  this  little  German  colony  can  afford  to  do, 
while  other  and  pressing  interests  voice  their 
claims,  must  always  remain  more  or  less  in- 
significant. Let  us  do  our  share.  A  good 
road  is  needed,  leading  across  the  beautiful 
brook  and  along  the  shady  path  Stevenson 
once  joyfully  followed,  up  to  the  top  of  Vaea. 
Such  a  road,  with  an  easy  grade  so  that  horses 
could  be  employed  for  most  of  the  journey, 
would  probably  cost  three  thousand  dollars. 
As  he  approaches  Apia,  the  visitor  from 
across  the  seas  is  told :  "  On  yonder  peak 
lie  the  remains  of  one  of  the  world's  best  be- 
loved writers  of  fiction  —  one  of  Scotland's 
most  gifted  sons."  But  he  looks  in  vain  for 
some  sign  of  the  exact  location  of  the  tomb; 
nothing  but  interminable  greenery  meets  his 


228    WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

eye;  and  even  when  he  at  length  arrives  at 
Vailima  itself,  with  the  mountain  close  at 
hand,  there  is  no  trace,  no  signal,  of  the 
sacred  burden  it  holds  aloft,  as  if  it  were  an 
offering  to  the  gods. 

Shall  this  condition  of  supreme  neglect 
still  obtain?  Shall  the  last  resting-place  of 
this  master  be  suffered  to  lie  in  such  undesir- 
able obscurity?  Surely,  here,  if  anywhere, 
is  the  place  to  erect  a  memorial  to  his  genius 
—  here  "  under  the  wide  and  starry  sky," 
where  his  earthly  remains  were  laid  to  rest. 
Let  there  be  raised  on  Vaea  a  monument 
worthy  of  the  man,  one  that  will  at  once  serve 
as  a  tribute  to  his  worth  and  a  landmark  to 
the  storm-tossed  mariner.  Away  to  north 
and  east  stretch  twenty  miles  of  sweeping 
ocean,  from  which  the  summit  of  this  lofty 
mountain  may  be  seen;  and  as  one  looks  down 
from  the  peak  itself,  the  view  is  almost  un- 
interrupted, obscured  here  and  there  only  by 
a  few  tall  forest  trees.  These  are  on  the 
property  of  Mr.  Thomas  Trood,  the  British 


AN  APPEAL  229 

Vice  Consul,  who  has  already  intimated  his 
willingness  to  cut  them  down.  Though  it 
is  not  generally  known,  the  spot  where  Steven- 
son is  buried  was  part  of  this  gentleman's 
estate  and  it  was  some  time  before  the  mis- 
take was  discovered.  The  land  was  then, 
however,  presented  to  Mrs.  Stevenson  who 
in  giving  Mr.  Trood  a  portrait  of  her  hus- 
band wrote  on  it:  "To  T.  Trood,  Esq., 
whose  kindness  shall  never  be  forgotten  by 
Fanny  V.  DeG.  Stevenson." 

I  would  suggest  that  steps  be  taken  to 
raise  a  fund  to  erect  a  monument  and  to  con- 
struct an  easy  pathway  up  the  mountain,  and 
that  a  portion  of  the  money  be  put  by  so 
that  its  accumulating  interest  might  serve  to 
keep  the  grave  and  path  always  in  good  con- 
dition. As  to  the  frequency  of  earthquakes, 
to  which  Mr.  Graham  Balfour  has  made 
reference,  I  may  point  out  that  not  one  of 
great  violence  has  ever  been  known  in  Samoa; 
there  is  no  ground  for  fear  that  a  well  built 
memorial  would  be  overthrown  by  a  convul- 


230     WITH  STEVENSON  IN  SAMOA 

sion  of  nature.  Fifty  miles  away  to  the  west- 
ward, the  bright  glare  from  Savaii's  open 
crater  on  "  Mauga  Afi  "  may  be  viewed  on 
almost  any  night  from  Apia,  and  this  open 
vent  gives  assurance  that  seismic  disturbances 
on  Upolu  Island  are  not  likely  to  be  violent. 


THE    END 


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